Deep Freeze
by Celestial Maiden Sukira
Summary: During a school ski trip, Danny and the gang find Glacia Powder, a heartbroken snowbording ghost who controls ice and snow. She seeks revenge on her backstabbing lover, but mistakens him for Dash! Will Danny save the day? Set after "Control Freaks".
1. Prologue

**Title:** Deep Freeze

**Summary:** _It's the annual Casper High ski trip to Mount Amity and Team Phantom is ready to kick back after a long week of ghost fighting. Unfortunately, besides the fact that the Fentons are the chaperones, Danny has to deal with a deadly snowboarding ghost named Glacia Powder. Strangely enough, she's attracted to Dash! After uncovering a local legend at the ski resort, he uncovers that Glacia is after her 'backstabbing' boyfriend, who looks exactly like Dash! With time running out for his family and friends, can Danny stop Glacia's frozen fury or will she put Danny permanently on ice?_

**Timeline:** _Set after the events of "Control Freaks", which is the end of Season One._

**Pairing(s):** _Danny/Sam (light hints), OC/OC_

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom, _but own rights to the ideas and original characters for this fanfiction. All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman._

* * *

"Alright, everyone! Single file onto the bus!" An overweight bald teacher dressed in a red jacket, called to a group of students in front of him.

It was a crisp and cold January morning in Amity Park and Casper High School's grounds were covered knee high with glistening, white snow. Several school buses pulled up into the parking lot, now filled with students, carrying snowboards and pairs of skis. The bus's doors opened slowly, just as people got on board, handing in crumpled permission slips to Mr. Lancer: the vice principal and an English teacher at Casper High.

"I can't wait to get on the slopes!" said Sam Manson, a fourteen-year-old girl with short black hair and light violet eyes. She was dressed up in a black jacket with a white trim, black gloves, and her usual black combat boots. She also had a purple and black scarf and dark purple earmuffs. "I heard there's a drop that defies the laws of geometric physics!"

"Well, I'm just happy that there haven't been any ghost attacks today", said Danny Fenton, a fourteen-year-old boy with raven black hair and light blue eyes. "I've been exhausted lately from all of that late night fighting..."

Danny was a ghost, or at least _half_ of one, since that fateful day, several months ago, when his weird ghost hunting parents: Jack and Maddie Fenton, created a portal that would allow ghosts to enter the human world. However, when they connected the plugs, the portal didn't seem to work and they left their lab. Influenced by his friends, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, Danny had decided to take a look to see what was the problem from inside of the device. Unfortunately, he pushed the 'on' switch that was inside, activating the portal with Danny inside of it. Fusing ectoplasm and electricity to fuse into his body, Danny gained the powers of a ghost, creating the ghostly superhero: Danny Phantom.

Ever since the accident, Danny, with the help of Sam and Tucker, had been beating up the ghosts that had been coming through the portal to wreak havoc, revenge and mischief onto his town. Recently, however, the ghost attacks had become larger and much more difficult for Danny to get rid of, causing him to stay up longer on school nights, making him more exhausted, and causing his grades to slip in school. But this time was different. Mr. Lancer had organized a school field trip to Mount Amity, for two fun-filled days of winter activities, relaxation and hot cocoa. Not to mention, a chance to impress Paulina Sanchez: the most popular girl in school and Danny's secret crush.

_Too bad Jazz is sick,_ Danny thought._ She would have loved to come along..._

Danny was in his long red and white jacket over his jeans, along with white gloves, and silver colored boots. He also wore a red beanie cap that covered most of his head.

"Don't jinx it Danny," Tucker warned. "Remember the last time you said that..."

Tucker was also fourteen, and had light brown skin and turquoise eyes. He wore his trademark red beret, as well as a light yellow jacket with a white trim, a red and white striped scarf, black gloves, and his usually worn brown hiking boots. Tucker was also carrying his trusty PDA, planning out his trip schedule.

"Don't worry Tucker," said Danny coolly. "What can possibly go wrong?"

As if on cue, an array of snowballs smacked Danny on the head, causing him to fall face first onto the snowy ground.

"That," said Tucker, pointing behind his friend to the people who had purposely attacked him.

Cearling his face of the gritty snow, Danny looked up to see Dash Baxter: the school bully and popluar jock, tossing a well-made snowball in his hand. He and his jock gang wore the school's red and white football jackets, blue jeans, black boots and red tuques that said "We're Number One" in large, white letters. They all laughed as Danny started to get up, now shaking the snow off of his jacket. Dash threw his snowball in Danny's face and laughed nasally, his gang following suit.

"Hey, guys! Check it out," Dash jeered. "It's Fenton the snow geek!"

Danny, who couldn't stand being humiliated by Dash, growled in anger, unaware that his eyes changed from his usual blue to a ghostly green. Seeing Danny's reaction, Sam put her gloved hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

"Just ignore him, Danny," she whispered. "Dash is just bullying you just to get you annoyed, and you know that..."

"Sam, cut it out. You're beginning to sound like my sister," said Danny coldly.

Sam frowned at him, and then turned to Dash and his friends, all of them still laughing at Danny's humilliation.

"I don't think you should be laughing at Danny, Dash", said Sam coldly. "You should be laughing at yourselves! I mean, look at you. You're all wearing the same pieces of clothing! Did you just come out of an assembly line for dumb athletes?"

Dash growled in anger, his hands curling into fists. "Why I oughta..."

"Manson! Fenton! You two lovebirds better get on or you're gonna be staying here!" Lancer shouted in the distance.

"We're not lovebirds!" shouted Danny and Sam at the same time. Noticing this, they both paused for a moment and stared at each other.

"Are we?" asked Danny, confused.

"Er, no! Of course not!" stammered Sam, slightly blushing at the mere thought of a deja-vu from the Ember incident. "Why would we be?"

"Come on," Tucker said. "We'd better get on before all the seats are taken."

Sam and Danny sighed. As they walked onto the school bus, they heard Dash in the distance.

"You'd better watch it, Fenton!" shouted Dash. "I'll be waiting for you to be off guard and when you least expect it...well, let's just say it's not gonna be pretty for you _or_ your geeky friends..."

Dash smirked evilly and pounded his fists together. His friends copied the same thing as Dash, all with evil grins on their faces.

_Oh great, now I've got to put up with three things: Dash, ghosts, and a death sentence! _thought Danny nervously.

"Hey, I heard that some kid from our grade has his parents chaperoning for the school trip," said Tucker, tucking his PDA into his jacket.

"Ouch," added Sam."I feel sorry for him to drag his folks along for the ride."

"Well, if you happen to see him, tell him I said good luck…"said Danny.

As they entered the bus after much pushing and shoving, Danny stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth now agape. In the back of the bus, were two people that he recognized immediately as his parents. His father, Jack Fenton, was a overly large man with black and grey hair, dressed in an orange and black hazmat suit. His mother, Maddie Fenton a woman with brown hair and violet eyes, in a dark blue lab suit with red goggles. Danny noticed his father was tinkering with a small handheld device.

_Why are they here?_ he wondered. _  
_

"Mom? Dad? What are you doing here?" asked Danny. "Aren't you supposed to be at a science convention or something?"

"That's next week, sweetie!" said Maddie, with a cheerful smile. "Besides, didn't you know?"

"Know _what_, exactly?"

"We're the parents that are chaperoning the school trip!"

_"WHAT?"_ Danny gawked at the sound of that last sentence. _Chaperoning? Oh, just great! That's number four to my list of things to watch out for! _

"Good luck," whispered Tucker, now grinning like a madman.

"And while we're doing that, we're gonna test out our new invention: the Fenton ghost compass!" Jack continued with sheer confidence, shoving the invention right in front of Danny's face. The square invention was a metallic silver and green, and it was about the same size as Tucker's PDA. On the black screen was a green electronic compass with the 'North' arrow flashing right in front of him. Danny jumped in fright as the compass addressed in a dull tone, _"Ghost directly ahead, zero degrees north."_

_Better make that five..._

"Hmmm…probably still has a few kinks to work out," Jack muttered, examining the gadget. Looking upon his son's frightened face, he turned a small black knob near the screen. "Danny, don't be scared. This gadget isn't gonna hurt you."

_"Human mode: on. Humans located in all directions. Closest: zero degrees south," _said the device._  
_

"See?" said Jack. "The Fenton Ghost Compass acts like a compass, but it can track down human or ghost DNA in a certain just by using regular GPS. Then it gives the exact coordinates that lead you to that person or ghost. Cool, huh?" Jack offered the small gadget to Danny, still nervous.

"Uh, yeah. Very interesting," Danny said carefully. "I'm going to find my seat, now..."

"Talk about your bad karma," Tucker muttered, trying not to laugh.

Unfortunately, Sam wasn't enjoying Tucker's attitude. She elbowed Tucker hard in the ribs to shut him up.

"What did you do that for?" demanded Tucker, glaring at Sam while rubbing his sore chest.

"Look," Sam whispered sharply. "Danny's having a hard time right now as well as it is, so let's try to cheer him up and look on the bright side, okay?"

Tucker sighed. "Fine..."

"Settle down for roll call!" shouted Lancer, clipboard and a retractable pen in his hands.

Everyone seemed to scramble to their seats at the sound of the teacher's voice. Planning quickly, Danny sat with Sam at the front, while Tucker sat with Valerie Gray, who was two seats across from where his two friends were.

Lancer clicked his pen. "Alright, then: Abigail Aries?"

A tall blonde girl with dark blue eyes in the back, raised her hand shyly. She looked at least a year younger than all of the other students.

"Um, Mr. Lancer? My name's Abby, not Abigail. Only my parents call me by that."

"Very well then, _Abby. _Moving on…"

Dash came next, then later Danny, followed by Tucker, Valerie, and Sam. After the last name: Ken Williams, Lancer looked over his list carefully, and counted the heads of the teens.

"Hmmm…it seems that Jasmine Fenton isn't here." Lancer questionably looked at Danny. "Do you happen to know where your sister is, Danny?"

"We can explain that," interrupted Jack. "Jazz has an ectoplasmic disturbance in her body that we think that a ghost is involved by possession."

Maddie slapped her head in embarrassment.

"Ignore my dad, sir," said Danny quickly, ignoring the fact that his social life was spiraling out of control. "Jazz just has the flu, that's all, so she won't be coming on the trip."

"What a shame," said Lancer. "Send her my regards, then."

"Will do," said Danny with an uncertain smile as he watched his teacher walk to the back of the bus, just as it exited the school grounds.

"An _ectoplasmic disturbance_?" questioned Lancer, with an eyebrow raised in suspicion as he sat next to Jack.

"My mistake," apologized Jack, grinning in embarrassment. He quickly got up from his seat with haste to avoid more conversation with Danny's teacher. "Hey, to pass the time, who would like to hear about my research about ghosts?" he asked to the group.

Danny suddenly froze on the spot. _Oh no_. _Not the speech! _He crossed his fingers. _Please say no. Please say no. Please say no... _

The bus was silent and stared at Jack in confusion, but several hands seemed to rise up. Danny stared in amazement as six people had their hands raised in the air. One of them was Valerie's.

_Great. Now the ghost hunter wants to know more information, so she can KILL ME! _

Valerie Gray was the only other human nemesis, besides his parents, that hunted ghosts for a living. After a few incidents with Danny and a stray ghost dog, her father lost his job at Axion Labs but was then reassigned to low class job as a night watch guard. Furious at this, Valerie dedicated her life to hunting ghosts, who the very beings that ruined her social life. Danny still didn't know how she got the ghost hunting weapons or the bright red costume she wore in battle, but he still had to watch out for her, human or not.

Danny suddenly felt his hand being touched and being raised up. He quickly turned around to see Dash, who was sitting a seat behind him smirking, grabbing his wrist. Jack noticed Danny's hand being raised and smiled, unknowingly that it was Dash who did it.

"Great!" Jack said, grinning from ear to ear. "Danny, I didn't know that you wanted to listen to my lecture again! It's great that you have such an interest in this subject! I think I'll start at the beginning..." He cleared his throat. "Ahem... Ghosts are supernatural beings that have passed on into the afterlife, but they can appear in our world in a bodily presence if they have unfinished business to take care of or a task to accomplish…"

Seeing Dash smirking and his father talking a long and boring ghost speech combined, was a sign that this was cruel and humiliating punishment. Dying from embarrassment, Danny hid his face under the protection of his jacket hood.

_I'm _so_ doomed..._

* * *

**A Note from the Author**

_No need to panic my fellow readers. This is merely a merge of Chapters 1 & 2 with a load of editing. Most of the story's chapters are under peer editing at the moment to tidy up a mess of punctual and literal errors. Some of the chapters' content (like the gang's winter outfits) will be edited to reflect on Seasons 2 & 3, but do not introduce any content from the future seasons (so no chest emblem, 'Phantom Planet', ice powers, ghostly wail, etc.) _

_When I had first written 'Deep Freeze' back in 2004, Canada had only gotten the first 13 episodes of Season 1 while the U.S. received the next 4 in February and the last 2 episodes of Season 1 at the end of June, following the 2 episode premiere of Season 2. After contemplating on this story's timeline a few months ago, I had decided to keep it Season 1 centered because of how much I had written ahead when Canada only had the first half of Danny Phantom's first season. So, seeing to that, this story is set a few months after 'Control Freaks'. So, for people who keep bugging me to give Danny ice powers, it ain't going to happen. So, sue me._

_So, until then, happy reading!_

Celestial Maiden Sukira


	2. The Ghost of Blue Heart Peak

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom. _All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman._

* * *

Finally, after two long hours of Jack's ghost research, the busses suddenly halted to a stop.

"…and that's my research on ghosts so far," concluded Jack, "Okay, any questions?"

There was complete silence through the bus. Most of the people was sleeping, or listening to their headphones in boredom. Sam was reading a library book called: "_Observing the Paranormal for Dimwits_", Tucker was listening to his PDA, (_"Listening to Ember's song, of course" suspected Sam_), Valerie was scanning her notes that she took down during Jack's lecture, while Danny was sleeping, as well as Mr. Lancer, who drooled on his clipboard and Dash, who was snoring annoyingly loud. This disturbed Sam's reading and she was getting quite fed up with it.

"_The trip must have tired them out…_" whispered Jack softly to Maddie. Maddie rolled her eyes in sarcasm.

The bus's doors quickly swung open, unleashing a blast of freezing cold air into the room. Danny stirred as the wind brushed against his face and through his hair. He finally woke up and yawned.

"Sam what's going on? Why did we stop?" asked Danny, as he rubbed his tired eyes.

"I don't know," replied Sam unsure, "That's what I'm trying to find out…"

Danny looked out the front window and saw a shadowy figure walking towards the bus. He tried to look closer, but the falling snow made it impossible to see any of the person's features. Jack was surprised also when he noticed the figure walking towards them. He took a megaphone out of his knapsack and took a deep breath.

"Ghost, ghost, **GHOST!**"shouted Jack loudly into the megaphone.

The sleepy teens, including Mr. Lancer, suddenly sprung up in surprise, as Jack's 'alarm' woke them up from their quiet sleep, everyone except Dash, who slept soundly. Everybody started to look worried and began to panic.

"But Jack!" said Maddie uncertainly, "The compass isn't reading any ghost signatures at all! How can you be sure it's a ghost?"

"I can feel it!" said Jack, now beaming with sheer confidence, "It's a Fenton ghost hunting instinct and that's all I need to catch this ghost!"

Maddie nodded, her eyes now beaming with excitement now. She reached into a small knapsack that she brought with her and took out a small silver and light green metal tube. Jack was armed with the Jack-a-Ninetails, and stood a heroic pose.

"Have no fear young ones! The Fentons are here to stop this ghost once and for all! There's no need to panic, so everybody just calm down slowly."

The shadowy figure crept closer and closer to the busses, each passing second. Tucker finally took off his headphones, and looked around confused. Paulina was chattering nervously a seat behind him, with her friend Star; something about "Inviso-Bill" (Amity Park's name for Danny Phantom) saving them and not Danny's parents.

"What's going on?" he asked Valerie.

"If you were paying attention, Tucker," said Valerie coldly, "that Danny's parents are getting ready to catch a ghost that's outside of the bus."

"A ghost?" asked Tucker, not exactly interested, since he usually helped Danny fight ghosts all the time.

The figure reached the bus slowly, now climbing up the metal steps. It brushed off the snow from its body and slowly began pulling off its hood in relief.

"**MADDIE NOW!**" Jack hollered and pressed the button on his gadget.

The Jack-a-Ninetails released a contraption of 9 light green grappling hooks, attached to an image of Jack's head in the center. The weapon whizzed through the air and wrapped around the figure's body, trapping it in a series of tangled cords as it dropped to the ground. Maddie pressed the button on her gadget and a blast of green goo shot out. It hit the figure, and became stuck to the floor.

Maddie and Jack blew the smoke off their gadgets, like 2 cowboys in a western after shooting a target with their pistols. The crowd cheered in applause, and Jack and Maddie took a bow.

"The Fenton Ghost Sticker worked like a charm!"whispered Jack to Maddie.

"Thanks honey," whispered Maddie, "It took me a while to fix the solution, but I think I've made it the stickiest it can get and it also hardens after it dries. But, you were great out there as well!"

"Aw, shucks, I was only doing my job…" whispered Jack, now blushing a light shade of pink.

Danny slapped his head in embarrassment. "I've never been so embarrassed in all my life!" he said to Sam, "Can this get any worse?"

"What's going on?" demanded Mr. Lancer, walking down the aisle.

"We've just captured a ghost!" announced Jack, "and now we're gonna unravel it to everyone, by using the Fenton Ghost Gloves!"

Jack had quickly put on two giant metal gloves that crackled with electricity as he moved them.

"Mr. Fenton, you can't be serious!" cried Mr. Lancer in surprise, "There's no way…"

"Believe it sir," said Jack, "Now step aside, we have a ghost to take care of!"

Jack and Maddie slowly walked down the aisle of the bus, while the nervous teenagers sat in complete silence with wide eyes staring at their every move. Jack lightly hit the hard green shell with one hand and it shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces. Maddie kneeled down and pulled off the hood off the figure's head. Everyone gasped, including Maddie and Jack.

The "ghost" was actually a young woman, around nineteen years old, with shoulder length ebony black hair and dark violet eyes. She wore a white jacket, black snow pants and boots, and a crimson red beanie cap. She flashed an angry look at Jack, which made him quite nervous.

"Get me out of this thing!" she demanded to Jack angrily, "Or you'll really make me loose my temper!"

"You're not going to fool us with that trick, ghost!" declared Jack.

"Mr. Fenton, that's our guide you've just caught!" shouted Mr. Lancer. "Get her out of that contraption immediately!"

Jack nodded slightly in disappointment and went in back of the guide. He pressed a small button that joined all the nine cords, and they disconnected from the center button, releasing her. Jack offered a hand to the guide and she pulled herself up off of the cold ground.

"I'm terribly sorry, Miss…"

"Jenny. Jenny Myers," the woman said, "Why were you capturing me in this hunting equipment?"

"This is no mere hunting equipment Miss Myers," said Jack with pride, "This is equipment designed to capture ghosts!"

"Ghosts?" asked Jenny curiously.

"You'll have to excuse my husband, Jenny," said Maddie, "My name's Maddie Fenton, this is my husband Jack and my son Danny; he's right over there."

Jenny and Maddie shook hands, as Jack waved. Danny waved slightly and blushed in embarrassment.

"So, you're ghost hunters then, and that's why you attacked me!" exclaimed Jenny, "How interesting…"

"Miss Myers, we should be going to ski resort right now," said Mr. Lancer, now looking at his watch. "We don't want to waste any more time."

"You must be Mr. Lancer, and these must be the Casper High students!" said Jenny, now smiling.

"Yes," said Mr. Lancer, "We should hurry, if we want to be on time."

"Alright then, let's go!" shouted Jenny.

The bus' engine roared and began to drive again up the snowy path. Jenny stood up at the back on the bus, while every one else sat quietly in their seats. Danny slowly reached into his pockets and took out three pairs of Fenton Phones. He handed a pair to Sam and quickly tossed another pair to Tucker, without Valerie noticing.

"It's a good thing I brought these," said Danny, as he stuck on one the phones in his ear, "We always have to come prepared for…"

Danny mouth suddenly opened and a stream of blue smoke trailed out. He shivered as a chill went up his spine, and looked out the window. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open.

"Danny, what's going on?" asked Sam curiously.

Danny pointed at the window, his eyes now fixated on it. Sam turned to look and gasped.

A female snowboarder, who was dressed in blue from head to toe, including her skin, was floating on her snowboard in the air as it created snow as she glided. Danny's eyes suddenly changed from his usual light blue to neon green, but Sam rested her hand on his shoulder.

"No Danny, not now!" she whispered quietly.

"You're right Sam," agreed Danny, his eyes now changing back to normal, "there's too many people here in the open."

Dash finally woke up and ribbed his tired eyes. "What are you looking at Fenton?" he asked, as he turned to look out his window.

Dash's expression on his face quickly changed and suddenly turned white as milk. The snowboarding ghost was right in front of his window! She quickly winked, smiled, and she blew a small kiss to him. Dash's eyes widened and he screamed in shock. Jenny overheard him and rushed over to his seat.

"What's going on here?" she demanded.

Dash pointed at his window with a shaky finger. "There's a girl…outside…**floating**!" he stammered, as he shook in fear.

Jenny looked at the window. Thick, sparkling light blue frost had covered the window pane, but she couldn't see anything else. Danny and Sam tried to look out of theirs too, but it was exactly the same as Dash's.

"All I can see is frost," said Jenny, now scratching her head in confusion. "Hmm…maybe the Ghost of Blue Heart Peak has returned."

"The Ghost of Blue Heart Peak?" asked Danny. "Who is she?"

"It's a legend I recently heard about," explained Jenny. "I thought it was just a story just to scare new staff members at the lodge, but I guess it's actually true, since this young man saw it up close today."

"Can you tell us tell us the legend?" asked Sam.

"Well, okay," replied Jenny, now scratching her head. "Now let's see…it was about five years ago today, when a young snowboarder named Penny Winters lost her life in an avalanche. She died with a broken heart on a mountain called 'Blue Heart Peak'. It was called that because the top was bright blue."

"Some people say that the peak's color changed she died, because she was dressed in a blue outfit. Others say that she cried a thousand tears of blue ice, and were carried onto the peak by magical winds."

Valerie Gray rolled her eyes. "What a load of-"

Her sentence was cut off by a loud "Shhh!" from Tucker.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to hear the rest of the story, Valerie. It's getting quite interesting," he whispered sharply.

Valerie frowned, but quickly shut her mouth and stayed quiet.

"As I was saying," said Jenny, "It all started during the annual Amity Park Snowboarding Championships, where Penny was getting ready for the tiebreaking round in the games…"

_An enormous crowd of people cheered at the bottom of a mountain, while rock music blared though out the microphones of the ski resort. A young male announcer was standing on the stage as the crowd cheered louder. He was wearing a dark blue and white jacket with a black beanie cap, blue jeans and black boots. He looked around in his early twenties and had curly mahogany brown hair and light brown eyes._

"_Hey everyone!" he shouted into his microphone, "It's a beautiful day here in Amity Park, and it's also great weather for shredding some serious powder, since today is the last day of the annual snowboarding championships! So, let's get ready to see some wicked tricks!"_

_Meanwhile, up at the top of the slope, a young fifteen year old girl named Penny Winters, stood there looking down at the crowds of people below her with her bright blue eyes. Her light blonde hair was pulled back into a small ponytail. Her head was covered by a dark purple head band that was marked with a light blue symbol that looked like a retro snowflake. She wore the typical snowboarder's outfit: all different shades of blue except her boots, which were bright silver with a light purple stripe on each side._

_She just stood there, listening to the crowd cheering her name through the speakers. She suddenly felt dizzy and nervous; sweat was rolling down her forehead. She collapsed to the ground kneeling, as she begun to cry hot tears._

"_I can't do it," she said as her tears went down her cheeks and melted the snow beneath her. "I'm so scared…"_

"_You're not going to give up are you Penny?" a calm voice said from the distance._

_Penny turned around to see a fifteen year old boy with sleek back hair and dark green eyes. He wore a red and white leather football jacket that had the words "Go Ravens!" printed in the back in large red letters, dark blue jeans that bagged around his black boots, and a red winter tuque that said "Number 1" in bold white letters. He had his hands in his pockets since it was so cold up on the mountain._

"_Rick? What are you doing here?" asked Penny, whipping tears from her face._

"_I just came to see my number one gal perform of course!" Rick said with a smile._

_Penny quickly got up to her feet and ran up to him in open arms. Rick gave her a comforting bear hug, but then she began to cry again._

"_What's wrong Penny?" he asked worried. "Are you okay?"_

_Penny looked up. "I…I don't think I can do this Rick," she sobbed, "I'm scared…"_

"_Why are you so scared?" asked Rick. "A girl like you should never be scared like this!"_

"_It's just…" she whimpered, "if I don't do this trick properly, I could end up seriously injured or worse: dead."_

_She looked away from Rick, her face filled with guilt. But then the felt something: something very warm touching her right cheek. She looked towards the warm sensation and gasped. It was Rick! He was kissing her! Rick stopped and Penny stared at him as she blushed a brilliant shade of red._

"_Penny, look at me!" he whispered. "I know you can do this! You just have to believe that you can do this! Like I believe in you…"_

_Penny blinked for a short moment and nodded._

"_You're right," she said._

_Penny quickly pecked Rick on the cheek and smiled sweetly. Rick also blushed, but then his eyes widened for a moment._

"_Oh, I almost forgot…"_

_He reached into the left pocket of his football jacket and took out a tiny silver bell that was encrusted with tiny sapphire snowflakes at the bottom. He handed it to Penny._

"_Here, take this," he said. "Happy Birthday Penny!"_

"_Oh, you remembered it was my fifteenth birthday today!" exclaimed Penny. "Thank you!"_

_She took the tiny bell out of his hand and it chimed a sweet high note when she swung it._

"_It's a good luck charm that I bought at the souvenir shop at the lodge," explained Rick. "Sorry if it's such short notice…"_

"_It's perfect!" said Penny, now tying it onto her zipper pull. "Let's hope it works…" _

"_You're welcome," replied Rick._

_The announcer's voice blared through the speakers. "Would number 781: Penny Winters, please take your mark at the starting position?"_

"_That's your call," said Rick. "Good luck Penny."_

_Penny smiled. "I appreciate that Rick. I'll meet you at the ski lodge, near 'White Forest Peak_'_afterwards?"_

"_Sure, that would be great!" said Rick. "See you later Snowflake!" Rick turned and walked back to the chair lift._

"_Snowflake" was Penny's nickname when she had started dating Rick a couple of months ago. She still couldn't believe that Rick had called her that; it was so long ago when she had first started training for the competition Rick had nicknamed her that. That he said that she was born to ride the slopes and dominate it as the Snow Queen of Amity Park; the title that would be given to the winner of this contest. _

_The announcer's voice boomed through the speakers once again._

"_All right folks! This is the moment we have been waiting for! Give it up for Amity Park's own: Penny Winters!"_

_The crowd cheered like crazy, like crazed fans at a rock concert. Penny saw several people on the screen of a giant television holding up banners marked: "Good Luck!" and "Go Penny, shred the powder!" One group of people was her parents and her five year old brother holding up a banner saying: "Number One Ice Princess."_

"_To beat this tiebreaker, Penny will be performing a trick all her own!" shouted the announcer. "Now everyone: we need complete silence…"_

_The loud music died, and the crowd's cheers faded away slowly. The only sound that Penny could hear was the wind whistling through the trees. Everything else was completely silent, as if time had stopped completely still._

"_Okay, I can do this," she thought, calmly, now taking in deep breaths. "Just focus, Penny. Forget about everything else around you…"_

_She mounted her black goggles over her eyes, and got onto her white and blue decorated snowboard. Then, she let herself down the slope, gliding swiftly, but softly down the mountain side. A giant yellow ramp was coming up. She closed her eyes in concentration and let herself jump off the ramp._

_As she descended, she began to rotate her body forwards making two flips while holding onto the sides of her board. She unlocked herself from the straps of her board and held it with her two hands while she twisted her body and spun like a top. With moments to spare, she quickly strapped herself back on to her board just in time for a perfect landing._

_The crowd suddenly broke into applause and cheered like crazy. Even the judges and the announcer were stunned of what she had just done. He ran up to Penny as she took off her dark blue helmet._

"_That was unbelievable Penny! Incredible! In all my years of hosting snowboarding tournament, I have never seen anything like this before! What do you call that amazing trick?"_

_Penny thought hard for a moment and then replied. "I call it: the Spinning Snowflake!"_

"_Well, you heard it folks!" shouted the announcer. "Now let's see what the judges think of it…"_

_The judges looked at each other and whispered. They all nodded and lifted up their score sheets. Every one was marked with a perfect '10' in black ink. The crowd screamed like crazy._

"_That's it!" cried the announcer. "Penny Winters wins the Amity Park championship trophy! Congratulations Penny…I mean Penny Winters: Snow Queen of Amity Park!"_

_The announcer handed over a tall, sold gold trophy to Penny. She glanced at the small figure of a snowboarder of a snowboarder who was pulling off a 180._

_After the awards ceremony and the interviews were over, Penny walked down to the ski lodge near White Forest Peak, just like she promised Rick to meet her. She held her shiny new trophy firmly in her hands, while she carried her board on her back. _

_At last, she saw Rick near the lodge, but to her surprise, he was not alone…_

_A 16 year old girl with short orange-red hair and dark brown eyes leaned against Rick under an enormous, snow covered pine tree. She was dressed in a dark red jacket with black stripes, as well as a black baseball cap, navy blue jeans and black boots. She kissed him softly with her ruby red lips against his lips, and he kissed her back._

_Penny couldn't believe her eyes what she was seeing right now. Rick has another girlfriend? Tears formed in her eyes, but she held them back._

"_How could you do this to me Rick?" she asked herself. "I thought that I was your girl but…"_

_She couldn't take it anymore. Heartbroken, she dropped her trophy and ran into the mountain pass, her hot tears now streaming down her face and blowing into the wind. Rick looked up to see Penny running into the forest leading to the mountain pass. He pushed the girl away from him and began to run after Penny._

"_Penny! Come back!" shouted Rick into the distance. "It's not what you think!"_

_But Penny ignored Rick's plea for forgiveness ad continued to run._

"_Leave me alone you two timing snake!" she snapped and she disappeared into the mountain pass._

_When she was half way up the mountain, Penny stopped and collapsed in exhaustion. She was tired and she panted franticly, gasping for air for every breath she took. The wind blew gently throughout the mountain; her tiny silver bell chiming softly to the rhythm. She held it to her chest, stopping the harmonious sound of the sweet high pitch chiming. She had almost forgot about it; a gift that Rick had given for her fifteenth birthday earlier today._

"_He said that this was supposed to give me good luck," she said to herself. "Hmph! So much for that happening…"_

_She got up to her feet and took a deep breath. _"Rick! I'll never forgive you for what you've done today and I'll have my revenge! I can promise you that, until you apologize to me for what you've done! Even if it kills me; I'll hunt you down like a wild dog!"_ she shouted in her most loudest and most angry voice, she'd ever done I her entire life. _

_Her voice echoed throughout the mountain side; a few birds were so scared that they flew out of the trees. Penny began to calm down. She was glad to get that frustration and anger out of her._

"_That takes care of that," she said to herself. "I'm so not dating for a while…"_

_Penny suddenly heard a loud rumbling noise from above her. She looked up, to see an avalanche heading right towards her; crushing everything in its path with its sheer power. _

_Shocked with fear, Penny scrambled onto her board and began to head down the mountain, but she couldn't outrun the crushing power and speed of the avalanche and she was pulled under. __The avalanche killed Penny Winters instantly._

* * *

"After the avalanche was over," said Jenny, "the ski patrol searched the mountain for three whole days, but her body was never found. The only thing that they found was her snowboarding helmet and a mysterious light blue peak on the top of the mountain. Now, they say that her ghost haunts these mountains; searching for her boyfriend to return."

"Jeez, what a horrible way to die!" exclaimed Sam. "What a lousy boyfriend she had!"

"I know," said Jenny. "But it's still a ghost story…"

"Until today!" announced Jack. "This young man-"

"My name is Dash," he reminded Jack, irritated.

"Right," continued Jack. "Dash clearly saw the ghost out of his window and we're going to catch it!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Fenton," apologized Jenny. "But Blue Heart Peak is off limits to unauthorized personnel. I can't even go up there, even though I'm new at the ski patrol this year."

Tucker finally spoke up. "Why?" he asked.

"It's a new rule," said Jenny, sternly. "Recently, five people from our team went to inspect the mountain for any wildlife. Four out of the five went missing, but the last one survived, just barely."

Everyone gasped. Danny's eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. How could four people disappear mysteriously without a trace? I must have been something to do with that ghost he had seen earlier.

"But, we need to find this ghost!" pleaded Jack. "It's our duty to keep Amity Park safe from ghost attacks!"

Jenny sighed. "I'll see what I can do Mr. Fenton. In the meantime, no one is allowed to near that mountain. Do I make myself clear?"

There was a loud "Yes" from the entire crowd. Jenny glared at Jack and Maddie, like an over concerned momwaitingfor their answer..

"You have my word as a Fenton!" Jack replied honorably.

Danny slapped his head in embarrassment again. Sam looked at him with a worried look.

"I wish that my parents could just be normal for once," he said to Sam. "Just once!"

"Well, you can't blame them Danny," said Sam calmly, "they're your parents. Even though they are ghost hunters…"

The bus suddenly screeched to a stop and the doors opened.

"Well," said Jenny, "we're here."

* * *


	3. Roommates

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom. _All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman.__

* * *

_

The Amity Park ski resort was the coolest place that Danny had ever seen.

The lodges were bigger than he could imagine. The bright red main lodge stood out starkly against the untouched white surrounding it. A large, golden snowflake had been painted in the center, surrounded by smaller, navy blue ones, and a large silver one near the entrance. There were also two other cabins that Danny could see in the distance: one was a light pink, while the other was a lighter shade of blue. The slopes were perfect to shred on; newly fallen snow untouched by human footsteps. Several snowmen were placed near the main lodge, dressed up in a variety of multicolored scarves and hats as well as orange carrots for the noses and shiny black buttons for the eyes and the mouth. _This place was perfect, _he thought. Now all he had to do was impress Paullina and stay away from Dash long enough to survive these two days.

"This is going to be sweet!" said Tucker as he took several pictures with his PDA.

"Something tells me that we're going to see that ghost very soon," said Danny worried.

"Don't worry about it Danny," said Tucker. "You can take care of that ghost in no time flat and still have time to shred!"

"But remember that threat Dash made?" reminded Danny.

"Relax, he's probably forgotten it by now," said Sam. "Besides, his tiny brain probably couldn't even remember the answer to what one plus one is!"

"Ahem."

Sam darted around to see a red faced Dash with his football friends. They were not too happy with her comment either as well as Dash. Sam's eyes were fixed upon Dash's menacing face. She'd never see him this angry before in her life, well, _actually there was that time after the ghost attack..._

"'Just to remind you losers, that I still have a score to settle with all of you. Especially Manson and Fenton," said Dash, trying not to lose his temper.

"Excuse me, but is there a problem here?"

It was Jenny who was walking up to them with crossed arms and a serious look on her face.

"No miss," said Dash innocently. "There's nothing to worry about here…"

"It better be," said Jenny, her voice growing more serious by the second. "I don't want any trouble while you've here or you'll deal with me. Got it?"

"Yes miss," said Dash, now scowling at Danny and Sam.

"Good. Now get a move on to your teacher," said Jenny.

Dash and his gang did as they were told and walked away to see Mr. Lancer. Jenny turned her attention to Danny, Sam and Tucker, with a smile.

"Thanks a lot," said Danny.

"You saved our skins, at least for now," said Tucker, now sighing in relief.

"Does that kid bully you guys a lot?" asked Jenny.

"Yeah, he bullies us regularly, especially me!" said Danny. "How did you know?"

"I went to Casper High a couple of years back and the football jocks used to play practical jokes on me," explained Jenny. "_Never trust anyone wearing a football jacket_, that's what I always say. But getting back to the bullying problem, as long as I'm around I'll make sure that he doesn't touch a single hair on your heads."

Sam, Tucker and Danny each exchanged glances.

_She sounds like mom_, thought Danny. He paused for a moment. _Even worse: Jazz!_

"Thanks for the support Jenny," said Sam. "But, we forgot to introduce ourselves. My name is Sam Manson and this is Tucker Foley. You've already met Danny of course."

Jenny smiled and shook hands with Sam and Tucker. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said. "You'd better hurry on over to your teacher. I think I hear your parents calling you too Danny."

Sam, Tucker and Danny nodded and rushed over to the other students were. As soon as they arrived, Mr. Lancer flashed a sharp look at them over his clipboard.

"It's about time you three showed up," said Mr. Lancer. "I was about to assign roommates and rooms for the trip."

"Roommates?" asked Danny confused.

Mr. Lancer ignored Danny's question and looked back at his clipboard. "As I was saying before, there are two cabins: one for the boys, the other for the girls. Now, when I call your names, you will be assigned a room number and the names of the roommates that you will be staying with. There will be no switching rooms **or** roommates. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Mr. Lancer," said the entire group in union like a group of elementary school kids.

Mr. Lancer cleared his throat. "Valerie Gray, Sam Manson, and Paullina Andres; you will be in room 301."

Sam's mouth dropped open in shock. "I'm staying with the shallow witch and a ghost hunter?" she muttered to herself.

Paullina and Valerie were also surprised about the pairing. "I'm staying with a Goth geek loser?" they both said in union.

Mr. Lancer continued. "Dash Baxter, Tucker Foley and Danny Fenton; you will be staying in room 606."

Danny's eyes widened in terror, but tried to remain calm. "There must be some mistake," said Danny, his voice growing nervous.

"Yeah, what he said!" shouted Dash.

Mr. Lancer shook his head. "Nope, there's no mistake here. It says it here in black and white," he said calmly. "Besides, Danny, this can give you an opportunity to make up between you two during school for the last couple of weeks." His eyes went back to his clipboard. "Now moving on…"

Not interested in the rest of the pair ups, Danny sighed and turned his attention to Tucker.

"Great, my two free days outside of school and the chance of impressing Paullina are ruined, thanks to Dash and this stupid roommate thing," said Danny miserably.

"What did you just say Fenton?"

Dash had overheard Danny's conversation. Tucker saw that Dash's had his hands balled up unto fists, and grinding his teeth. Danny sighed, not exactly caring about Dash's threat right now.

"Cut the macho act Dash," he said flatly, not bothering to face him. "Look, I know you're upset as Tucker or I am, but we're stuck together." He turned around to face the angry jock. "So, let's try to get through this, okay? But, if you don't agree with me, fine, punch me in the face for all I care."

Dash stared at Danny with his trademark glare, and his arm had begun to rise for a punch for Danny's head, but then stopped inches away from Danny's nose.

_The loser might be right for once,_ he thought to himself.

He drew back his arm and his eyes suddenly lost all hate for Danny. He soon calmed down and sighed in defeat.

"Fine Fenton, have it your way," said Dash. "We'll call it a _temporary_ truce, for now."

Danny and Tucker sighed in relief, but then Dash suddenly grabbed both of them by their jacket collars, his eyebrows lowering back to 'anger mode'.

"But If I find you _or_ Foley blabbing that I'm being Mr. Nice guy, to anyone when we get back: I'm gonna make you wish you were never born. _Get it?_" he hissed.

"Got it," said Tucker and Danny nervously.

"Good," said Dash with a nod. He threw them onto the ground and then stomped away.

"Well, look on the bright side Danny," said Tucker, brushing snow off his jacket, "at least he won't bother us for a little while."

"Yeah, but for how long is a_ while _in Dash's terms?" asked Danny nervously.


	4. Settling In

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom. _All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman._

* * *

After assigning everyone rooms, Mr. Lancer introduced them to Mitchell Torn: the manager and councilor of the ski resort. He looked around nineteen years old, which was quite young for a councilor and a manager. He had long, curly dark brown hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a dark red jacket, blue jeans and black boots and black gloves.

"Hey everyone," he greeted to the students. "As you well know, my name is Mitchell, but you call me Mitch."

Some of the guys yawned in boredom. Jack's eyes drooped slowly but Maddie nudged him to stay awake. Most of the girls, especially Paullina, stared at Mitch with big, widening eyes.

"Can you believe this Tucker?" whispered Danny. "This guy's only nineteen and he's the big shot at the ski resort!"

"No kidding," said Tucker.

"Now, we have a few rules that we'd like you to follow," said Mitchell. "Number one: curfew is at ten-thirty at night. If we should find you later than that or on the grounds, we'll alert your teacher or your parents and they will figure out your punishment."

"_This guy's worse than Walker!"_ exclaimed Danny in his thoughts.

Mitchell continued. "Number two: 'Blue Heart Peak' is strictly off limits to anyone. We've heard that-"

Jack cut Mitchell off. "A ghost was haunting the mountain!" he declared.

"_Excuse me?" _asked Mitchell, with his left eyebrow raised. "Did I just hear you say a _ghost_ was haunting the mountain?"

Jack nodded. "Yep, you sure did and we're here to catch it! Jack and Maddie Fenton: Amity Park's expert ghost hunters. You may have heard of us…"

Mitchell stared at them confused for a moment and then spoke again with a smile.

"I remember you two now!" he said in surprise. "You're the people who helped the town with the ghost attack a couple of months ago!"

"We sure are!" said Maddie with a smile.

"Jenny told us about the missing ski patrollers and we want to get rid of the problem," said Jack. "Would you be able to access us clearance to the mountain?"

Mitchell's expression quickly changed. "That mountain's far too dangerous!" he shouted.

"Don't worry, we've been in much more dangerous situations than this!" said Maddie. "Once, I had to help my son from rapid ghost animals in a jungle!"

"Um…and recently, I was recently attacked by a giant ghost wolf!" lied Jack. Maddie glared at him, but said nothing.

Mitchell finally sighed in defeat. "Fine,' he said. "Come by the main lodge later and I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," said Maddie. "You don't know how much we appreciate this!"

Mitchell turned his attention back on the students. "Anyways, getting back to the rules; number three: stick with a buddy. We don't want anyone getting lost here during our visit, and last, but not least: have fun!"

Sam raised an eyebrow and snorted. "'_Have fun?' _That's so lame," she muttered.

"Boys, follow Mr. Fenton and me to your cabins. Girls, you follow Mrs. Fenton and Jenny," shouted Mr. Lancer.

The teens divided into two groups and headed in two different directions, carrying their heavy belongings with them.

* * *

Dash, Tucker and Danny entered their small room that seemed barely large enough to fit three people. It had been painted a dark blue that somehow actually looked good with the soft, bright red carpeting.

Tucker ran to the first of three beds that had been placed in various positions along the walls, each covered with red sheets that had been decorated with white spirals. Two blue pillows sat at the head of each bed next to two table stands on each side. The lamps that stood on the tables had blue lampshades over them, causing the light in the room to fade slightly, and almost mysteriously. Several golden-framed pictures lined the walls, each showing skiers of special skills either standing, skiing, or flipping in the air.

Last but not least, came the small, white bathroom off to the side. All in all, the entire room gave off a patriotic feeling. "Nice digs," said Tucker wide eyed.

"They could have done better," said Dash rudely.

"Well, I don't think it's that bad," said Danny.

"Whatever Fenton," said Dash as he tossed his bag onto the bed on the right side of the room.

"Hey look guys," said Tucker, "they put boxes of chocolates on the pillows!"

Tucker was correct. On each of the pillows was a hand size box of small chocolates. He quickly grabbed his and shoved them all in his mouth at once.

"_What is this? A lodge or a hotel?"_ thought Danny.

Tucker finally swallowed. "They're really good!" he said.

"I think I'm going to save mine for later," said Danny as he put them in his jacket pocket. Dash did the same thing.

"'Might as well unpack," said Dash with a shrug.

He unrolled a bright red sleeping bag and laid it out on his bed. He also took out a signed football from his suitcase and put it next to his pillow. Danny just stared at the ball with a puzzled look on his face, as Dash threw his bag into corner.

"Do you _sleep_ with that?" asked Danny nervously.

"Why would you ask me that _stupid_ question?" snapped Dash. "For your information, I bring this ball with me for good luck. Does _that_ answer your question, Fenton?"

"Y-yes," stammered Danny.

"But what's so special about it anyway?" asked Tucker.

Dash sighed. "This was the ball I used to score my first High School touchdown with and how I became captain of the school team. It's even signed by all the players, including the old captain. Just to answer your question, Foley…"

His voice trailed off as a look of sheer terror struck across his face. His face became as pale as chalk, his eyes widening at Tucker. Danny and Tucker just looked at each other and then back to him, with a cocked head and a confused expression.

"What?" Tucker asked.

Dash gasped. "Ghost!" he screamed with his last ounce of breath and fainted onto the floor. A light blue ghost sense exited Danny's mouth, and then heard a familiar annoying voice behind him.

"I am the Box Ghost!"

Danny and Tucker quickly turned around to see the Box Ghost floating with his usual _"Fear me"_ pose. The Box Ghost was an annoying weak ghost that kept popping up a lot when Danny was around, although he always got his butt kicked every single time by Danny. He had the power over boxes, which was his only power, and was obsessed with them (hence the name). He always kept saying things like: _"I have power over all things compact and square"_ and other such nonsense, every time Danny fought him.

Danny sighed. "Oh, it's just you," he said flatly. He's such an idiot, he thought.

The annoying ghost paused for a moment and then continued. "Tremble before the might of-"

Tucker cut him off. "Yeah, we know: the Box Ghost!" he said in sarcasm. He rolled his eyes and included a little hand gesture. Danny laughed.

"Do not mock me, for I am-"

The Box Ghost sentence was cut off by the noise of the Fenton Thermos sucking him in. Danny closed the cap on top of it and sighed in relief.

"Well, that was a waste of time," said Danny as he put the thermos back in his bag.

Tucker kneeled over to see Dash, who was still stiff as a board and his face was ghostly white.

"He's fainted!" exclaimed Tucker.

Danny smiled. "I know a way to wake him up…"

He closed his eyes and concentrated hard. His entire body became intangible and flew into Dash's body. Green energy swirled around Dash's unconscious body and his eyes snapped opened. Instead of his normal blue eyes, they were a glowing bright green. He got up to his feet and brushing off dust off his clothes.

"Good idea Danny!" said Tucker. "Overshadowing Dash should get him back to his senses. How do you feel?"

"I feel slightly dizzy, but I'm okay," said Danny.

Suddenly, there was a knock on their door. Danny (Dash) and Tucker froze.

"What's going on in there?" It was Mr. Lancer.

"Quick, Danny! Get out of there now!" shouted Tucker nervously.

Quick as that, Danny flew out of Dash's body and stood beside him. Tucker opened the door and Mr. Lancer and Jack came into the room.

"Is everyone alright in here?" asked Mr. Lancer. "We heard a scream…"

He looked at Dash suspiciously, who was just standing here dizzy and clutching his head in pain.

"Uh, yeah!" said Tucker nervously. "Dash just hit his head…really hard."

"Are you all right Dash?" asked Mr. Lancer. "You look pale as a ghost!"

"Don't say ghost," said Dash, "I just saw one over there."

He pointed to the right hand corner where Tucker had stood before.

Jack's eyes widened in excitement. "What did the ghost look like?" he asked eagerly.

Dash scratched his head. "Well, it sort of looked like a plumber with blue skin and red eyes. Although, I can't remember much of it…"

"Did you know where it went?"

Dash shook his head. "No, I don't."

Mr. Lancer and Jack looked at each other and then back at Dash. "Dash, I think you should come with us," said Mr. Lancer calmly. "You've had a rough morning…"

"No! I didn't imagine it!" shouted Dash. "It was real! Fenton and Foley saw it too…" He shot a desperate look at Danny and Tucker. "Right?"

Danny and Tucker looked at each other for a moment and smiled slyly.

"Nope, we didn't see a ghost," said Danny. "You're right, Dash imagined it by himself."

"That's all the proof I need," said Mr. Lancer. "Come along Mr. Baxter; let's take you to the infirmary."

Mr. Lancer grabbed Dash by the arm and began to drag him out of the room. Dash struggled to break free of the teacher's grip, but couldn't.

"Let me go!" cried Dash. "I'm not seeing things, I swear! Fenton and Foley are lying! They saw the ghost, I just need proof-"

"That's enough out of you, young man," said Jack, his voice now serious. "It's one thing to lie about a ghost and shout a false alarm, but calling Danny and Tucker liars is another!"

Mr. Lancer dragged Dash out of the door. Danny heard dash scream: "FENTON!", following by his father saying: "His name is 'Danny', not Fenton" Once they were nowhere to be seen, Danny and Tucker laughed.

"Now_ that_ was fun!" said Tucker, now showing digital pictures of Dash being dragged away on his PDA.

"How were you able to get those?" asked Danny. "Lancer and my dad were right in front of us the whole time!"

Tucker smirked. "I have my ways…" he said slyly.

He pointed to the left side of the room. It was so dark that Danny had to squint to see what Tucker was trying to show him. In the left hand corner, was a small circular camera that was about the size of his hand and it was also the same color as the wall.

"It's a wireless spy camera that I bought off the Internet about a month ago," explained Tucker. "I downloaded this program into my PDA and now I can check what's been going on in our room."

"Sweet!" said Danny. "Can you replay what's happened in the last ten minutes?"

"No problem," said Tucker and he tapped the "Replay" button on the screen.

The camera footage rewound itself to when Dash had spotted the Box Ghost and fainted. Danny and Tucker laughed hysterically.

"I still can't believe that Dash fainted when he saw the Box Ghost!" exclaimed Danny, holding his sides in pain since he was laughing so hard.

"Oh, here comes the good part!" said Tucker eagerly.

"Put it in slow motion!" suggested Danny.

Tucker nodded. He tapped the screen and the video slowly showed Danny taking out the Fenton thermos and sucking up the Box Ghost. Several minutes later, the video ended and Danny and Tucker were still laughing. Suddenly, Danny's watch beeped. He looked down and checked the time. It was precisely noon.

"Come on Tuck, we should get down to the cafeteria to meet Sam."

"Good idea, I'll bring my PDA with me," said Tucker. "Sam's going love it when we show this to her..."


	5. Dash's Encounter

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom. _All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman._

* * *

"For the last time, I'm fine!" shouted Dash.

He was currently in sitting on one the neatly dressed beds in the medical lodge. Mr. Lancer had informed Jenny about what had happened before and she was now examining Dash for any suspicious injuries.

Jenny ignored Dash's stubborn remark. "How do you feel right now Dash?" she asked calmly.

Dash finally gave in. "I still feel dizzy from before," he said.

"Does anything hurt?"

Dash shook his head. "No, although a have a bit of a headache."

Jack cut in. "Maybe you were possessed by a ghost?" he suggested. "It's a good thing I brought the portable Fenton Extractor with me!"

Out of nowhere, he pulled out a small, slender invention that resembled a handheld vacuum cleaner. It was covered with silver and green metal and had two small red and green buttons on the top. He pointed it on the side of Dash's head but before he could turn it on, Jenny gently pushed it away from Dash.

"I don't think that's necessary Mr. Fenton," she said. "I took all the medical classes I needed and I can tell you that this young man is **not** possessed."

"But-"

"No _'buts',_ Mr. Fenton, I'm perfectly capable of doing my own job! But thank you for offering to help."

Jack sighed in disappointment and put the invention away. Jenny took one final look at Dash, took several steps back and stared at him for a moment. She smiled and turned to Mr. Lancer.

"By judging Dash's diagnosis, he seems to be just fine. I think all he needs is an aspirin and some bed rest. Then, he should be back outside in no time!"

Mr. Lancer nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Myers. I'm sure that Dash can handle that…" He turned his attention to Dash by glaring at him. "Right, Mr. Baxter?"

Dash looked at the floor, but understood what he had to do. "Yes sir," he said flatly. Jenny placed the medicine on a small polished oak night table beside the bed. The three adults then disappeared out of the infirmary, following by the slam of a wooden door and Jack's loud rambling about ghosts that Dash could hear clearly into the next room.

He averted his gaze to the small night table beside him. There laid a tiny white pill as well as a glass of water. Dash couldn't take the pain anymore; his head was throbbing every second and he wanted it to stop. He grabbed the pill and swallowed it, then drank the water in two gulps down his parched throat. He sighed in relief, now that the pain was beginning to fade away, and jumped onto the bed lying on his back.

"When I get out of here, Fenton and Foley are in trouble, big time!" he said to himself. He suddenly yawned and closed his eyes. "But first, a short nap." After he had finished, Dash became sound asleep.

* * *

He awoke about an hour later. He rubbed his tired eyes sleepily and yawned.

"Ah! Much better!" he said, his voice more relaxed.

He got out of bed and began to stretch out his tired limbs. His headache was finally gone, much to his relief, and felt refreshed and rejuvenated once again. He grabbed his jacket and hat and began to head for the door. But then something caught his eye. One of the windows near the left side of his bed was somehow different than before.

Dash began to walk towards it, his curiosity getting the better of him. His blue eyes were transfixed on it, but then he stopped suddenly and he gasped to see what had happened to it as he gotten close enough to see.

The entire window was covered with the same light blue frost as he saw before on the bus. The dull, glassy pane was transformed into a beautiful icy masterpiece of swirling designs and patterns. Dash traced them with his fingers which lead him to a patch of white frost that glittered like diamonds in the sunlight. He looked closer and squinted. It was some sort of message. He looked over it several times, reading the same message out loud:

_Get Well Soon_

There was also a small symbol next to it, resembling a snowflake as well as a dark blue lipstick mark next to it. "Get well soon?" muttered Dash. "I wonder who sent me this…"

Just as that, a powerful wind suddenly sung the doors wide open and the room became so bitterly cold that Dash could see his own breath in front of him. A menacing laughter of a young girl echoed through the large room and the chime of a small bell followed soon after. It sent a chill that crept up his spine and made him shiver.

A couple of seconds later, the room changed back to normal, as if nothing had happened. Although the noise was gone, they were still echoing through his mind. Dash looked back at the window once again, but the frost and the message had disappeared mysteriously. He blinked and scratched his head confused.

"What just happened? Was that real or was it just another trick?" he asked himself.

His hands felt frozen, almost numb. He blew onto them to thaw them out. _It felt real_, he thought. The room's temperature was back to normal, but he was still cold.

"Maybe it is true," he said. "Maybe I am losing it…" He paused for a second and shook his head in denial. "What am I _saying_? I'm fine! Probably all I need is some fresh air right now. That should clear my thoughts…"

He put on his jacket and hat and went out of the building. He trudged through the ankle deep snow while looking up at the sky. A snowflake dropped and landed onto his nose. One snowflake became five. Five became ten. Ten became hundreds.

_Snow?_ he thought. _It couldn't be snowing now. The weatherman said it would be clear for the next two days…_ He paused and shrugged. _Of course, the weatherman's always wrong._

Several large pine trees were now collecting the falling snow on its thick, green needled branches. A soft wind blew and Dash heard the same chiming sound of a bell as he heard before in the building. He quickly darted around but he saw nothing but the medical lodge and a couple of tall evergreens on each of it sides.

"It's probably just the wind," he thought. He walked down the snowy path to the main lodge.

* * *

When Dash was out of sight, a young teenage girl appeared out of thin air on top of the medical lodge's roof. She looked around fifteen with long, spiky, light blue hair tied up into a small ponytail. Her light blue skin almost matched the sky and her glowing periwinkle eyes almost sparkled like newly formed frost in the light.

She wore an outfit which consisted of a dark purple headband with a dark blue snowflake logo on the front, light purple gloves, a pair of light blue ski goggles, a white snowboarding jacket with different shades of blue and a pair of white and silver snowboarding boots. On a black string around her neck, hung a tiny silver bell decorated with tiny sapphire snowflakes at the bottom. She also carried a tall dark blue snowboard decorated with two bright purple snowflakes and a silver skull in the center.

This strange ghost possessed a strange name that was compatible with her fierce nature. A name that struck fear into the hearts of everyone: Glacia Powder. Her spirit had searched the mountain tops over and over again for five years. Now, she had found him...

"After five long years, I've finally found you Rick," said Glacia with a smirk. "Now, I can finally have my revenge!"

Her eyes flashed a brilliant white for a moment and the wind suddenly blew violently. Its force managed to break off several large branches from the evergreen trees, sending them high into the air. With a flick of her wrist, a cloud of bright blue smoke appeared and engulfed them. The smoke cleared and the branches were now encased in thick ice.

As they began to drop to the ground, Glacia jumped off the roof on her snowboard and fired a dark blue energy blast at the frozen branches. They shattered into thousands of tiny pieces and dropped to the ground below. She looked at the remains and smirked.

_This is just a taste of what I'm going to do to you for deserting me like that! _she thought.

She began to fly away into the forest in the distance, while her snowboard created light fluffy snow as she glided. "Soon Rick, you shall be mine!" she cackled, disappearing into the forest and leaving a path of frozen trees in her wake.


	6. A Trip Down Memory Lane

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom. _All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman._

* * *

"I don't believe it! Dash actually fainted?" exclaimed Sam.

"Yeah, and it was that idiot Box Ghost that scared him!" said Danny.

It was lunchtime and Danny, Sam and Tucker were in the cafeteria finishing up their meals. Danny and Tucker were explaining to Sam what had happened to Dash earlier in their dorm. Although Sam was relieved that Dash wasn't breathing down their necks, she was laughing so hard that she didn't seem to care about it.

"I still don't believe that Dash fainted because of that annoying ghost!" said Sam, wiping tears from her eyes since she was laughing so hard. "What happened after that?"

Danny continued. "Well, after I sucked the ghost into the Fenton thermos, I had to wake up Dash somehow so I overshadowed him. But then Lancer and my dad were at the door-"

"But luckily, Danny got out just in time, thanks to me. They asked about the ghost Dash had seen before, so we lied and they thought Dash had gone crazy."

"Both of them had to drag Dash out of the room to the infirmary. You should have seen the look on his face!" Danny had begun to laugh again.

"It's true! Check it out!" Tucker took out his PDA from his pocket and played the video clip he recorded earlier. Sam almost died from laughter.

"That is hilarious!" she said.

"So, what happened at your cabin, Sam?" asked Tucker.

"To tell you the truth, nothing much happened. We barely talked to each other." She snorted. "Well, _avoiding our space_ was more like it. Paulina put up several pictures of you on the wall, _'Inviso-Bill'_." She pointed to Danny in sarcasm.

"Sam, you know how much I hate being called that!" hissed Danny, loud enough so no one else could hear them.

"You should really find a publicist, man," said Tucker. "That name is just too weird."

"No kidding, it's completely stupid!" shouted Danny. "I just wished that the town would have named me: 'Ghost Boy' or 'The Phantom', but _'Inviso-Bill'_? Come on! I'd like to get my hands on the idiot who came up with that name!"

"Well, be glad they aren't just calling you 'Public Enemy Number One' all the time," said Sam. She took a sip from her can of soda.

Danny sighed. "I suppose. What else happened?"

"I caught a glimpse of Valerie un-wrapping her new ghost hunting weapons. I saw her reading a note that came along with it as well. It said something like: _"Keep up the practice and happy hunting!"_ Her hand was blocking the signature, but I saw a flash of red ink…"

"I can't believe that Valerie is so dedicated to hunting ghosts!" said Tucker, bewildered. "It's just so strange…"

"Yeah, but none of this would have happened if I had stopped that ghost dog at the beginning," muttered Danny. "Then Valerie wouldn't be poor and I wouldn't have to worry about any of this!" Tucker quickly moved his lunch tray out of the way before Danny laid his head on the table in frustration.

Worried, Sam rested her hand on Danny's shoulder. "Don't be so hard on yourself Danny," she said calmly. "Everyone makes mistakes, big or small."

"Like the time when you changed the school's cafeteria menu?" Tucker pointed out.

"How was I supposed to know a meat obsessed lunch lady ghost was going to come and attack us?" said Sam.

Tucker smiled. "How about the time when-"

"You accidentally you dropped the Fenton Thermos at the pier and released all the ghosts I fought that night. Plus, I had to study for that Biology exam and I failed, tying into that incident with that gorilla and Skulker," said Danny.

"Hey, that was Sam's fault, not mine!"

Sam and Danny exchanged glances as a 'Yeah right' look and smiled.

"Danny, do you remember that time when you bullied Dash so much, that Sidney Poindexter came out of your locker and 'switched' places with you?" said Sam.

"Don't even remind me!" said Danny. "Someone calling me a nerd is one thing, but actually _switching places_ with one is a whole other story!" He shuttered. "I can still feel that wedgie that greaser gave me…"

"But seriously dude, did you manage to hear the guy's catch phrases?" said Tucker. "Talk about last century!"

"May I remind you Tucker, that he was from fifty years ago," reminded Danny. "Things were much different back then, than now."

"I suppose," said Tucker. "Come to think of it, we've been on a lot of adventures involving ghosts and it all started with that incident with the ghost portal!"

Danny nodded. It was true. After all his adventures with Sam and Tucker; after all these months of: fighting powerful and annoying ghosts, avoiding ghost hunters, his parent's gadgets, keeping his identity a secret and surviving high school as a 'C' student; he could still recall that fateful day when his parents invented the Fenton Portal: an invention that created a door into the Ghost Zone.

He could recall every action, word, sound, every second of time passing; he felt he was back at the beginning: of how his origin had started from an ordinary fourteen year old kid to a half ghost superhero. It was like replaying an old movie, but only Danny could see it.

* * *

_"Great, another boring day at school finally done, and Lancer _still_ gives us a ton of homework to do!" groaned Danny miserably._

_Danny Fenton, and his two best friends: Sam and Tucker, were slowly walking home from another boring day at Casper High. Danny had done the same daily routine from getting out of bed to another crazy breakfast with his ghost hunting parents, all the way to his daily beatings from Dash and attending his classes, obtaining more homework each day and 'C' point average. But his routine had slightly changed for the past month or so._

_Recently, his parents had been working on a top secret experiment in their lab (the basement) and wouldn't let Danny or his older sister Jazz; see it until it was completely finished. He hardly saw them, only during mealtimes and in the mornings when he and his sister went off to school. He was very curious of what they were doing, but he didn't know what to do._

_Sam noticed Danny had been completely quiet for over five minutes. She wondered if there was something wrong with him._

_"Danny, are you alright?" she asked softly. "You've been awfully quiet…"_

_The raven haired teen sighed. "I'm fine Sam. It's just that I'm been getting worried about my folks lately. I don't get to see them as much. They're always down in the lab, working on something big."_

_"What are they working on anyways?" asked Tucker._

_Danny shrugged. "I don't know. They won't even tell Jazz! Although, I suspect it's another ghost hunting invention."_

_"If you're so curious about it, why don't you just talk to them?" suggested Sam._

_"I don't know Sam," said Danny nervously. "Sometimes they can be very secretive about these things…"_

_"It's either that, or do what I do when curiosity gets the better of me!" said Tucker._

_"You mean: _spying_?" corrected Danny._

_"I'd like to call it as getting the wanted information without being seen," replied Tucker coolly. "Besides, it's not like you're doing anything that bad to them."_

_Sam started counting on her fingers "Let's see now: butting into their personal space, eavesdropping; must I go on?" she said, now glaring at Tucker._

_"Fine," Tucker pouted, "but don't say I didn't give you any advice!"_

_"I'll think about what you guys said," sighed Danny. "I have to go. I'll see you guys later."_

_"See ya, Danny," said Sam. "Call us to see how it turns out!"_

_Sam and Tucker waved good bye and disappeared down the street. When they were gone, Danny walked into his odd looking house. As soon as he had dropped his heavy schoolbag onto the floor, his sixteen year old sister Jasmine, preferably known as Jazz, rushed into the entrance way and trapped him in a crushing bear hug._

_"Jazz, get the heck off of me!" shouted Danny, struggling out of his sister's arms._

_Jazz surrendered to her younger sibling's plea and loosened her grip. Danny slipped away from her and brushed off his clothing off in disgust._

_"You don't still believe in cooties, do you?" teased Jazz, trying to hide a laugh._

_"Cut it out!" shouted Danny, irritated. "You know I hate it when you do that!"_

_Jazz's smile quickly changed to a frown and crossed her arms. "Where were you?" she demanded. "Mom and Dad are anxious of showing their new experiment to us!"_

_"For your information Jazz, I was walking back from school with Sam and Tucker," retorted Danny. He paused. "Since when have you been excited about Mom and Dad's inventions?"_

_"Since they told me that it's going to revolutionize the world! Now come on!" Jazz grabbed Danny by his wrist and dragged him down the stairs into the basement/lab._

_The two siblings saw their parents: Jack and Maddie, welding a large hexagon shaped piece of metal onto the far wall. Danny also saw that there was a hole where his parents were standing, about seven or eight feet wide, with five tangled thick black cables strewn across the floor from the inside. On the far left of it was a small control pad with many dials, flashing lights and buttons for operating the…thing that they had created. It reminded Danny of the portal from __"Stargate" for some reason, although he didn't know why._

_The two ghost obsessed parents finally looked up to see Danny and Jazz at the bottom of the stairs, staring curiously at their new invention. Jack pulled off his bright green goggles and looked over his finished invention, beaming with pride._

_"Well, after twenty long years, it's finally done!" he said proudly. "You kids are just in time to see it too!"_

_Jazz smiled. "I'm so glad that it's finished too, Dad, and it's something not tied into your sick obsession with ghost hunting!"_

_"Behold, the Fenton's greatest invention yet: _The Fenton Ghost Portal!_" announced Jack, completely ignoring Jazz._

_Maddie lifted a black cloth off a wooden stand. It was a sheet of blueprints marked with a diagram of the ghost portal and two words Danny could decipher as "PORTAL", "GHOSTS" and "US". Jazz's mouth dropped open and stood speechless._

_I stand corrected, she thought._

_"So Jazz, what do you think?" asked Maddie._

_The sixteen year old's turquoise eyes lowered. "What do I think? What do __I think?"_

_Her parents nodded eagerly, waiting for her answer._

_"This…this is the most __ridiculous thing I have ever seen in my entire life!" she exploded. "You told me this was going to change the world!"_

_"It's going to change the _ghost hunting_ world, Jasmine," explained Jack. "I thought that you'd be happy!"_

_"Do I look happy to you?" shrieked Jazz. "Of all the things you've created, this one takes the cake: this stupid…__machine!" She stomped right past them and kicked the invention out of her frustration, ignoring the pain._

_"Let me guess: it makes a portal to a ghost dimension or something, right?" she said with sarcasm._

_Jack just stared at his angry daughter. "Jasmine-"_

_"Don't _'Jasmine' _me! I could have been working on my thesis that's due in a week, but no. I had to waste my precious time down here."_

_Maddie's patience finally broke. "That's enough out you young lady!" she shouted._

_Jazz's face was now a bright red. "Fine, if that's the case; I'll be in my room, writing out my thesis: stating how my parents are a bunch of ghost hunting _**freaks**!_" She stomped right up the stairs in a huff. __"I hope that invention never works!" she grumbled. Then she slammed of the door behind her._

_Danny was completely shocked. Of all of his fourteen years, he had never seen this sister so angry and frustrated with their parents. He just hoped that would never happen to him when he was her age. __It might have been a female thing too, he thought. He turned back to his parents who were silent for a moment, but was broken by a deep sigh from his father._

_"Forget her Danny," he said. "She probably doesn't quite understand of what were doing right now, but you do, right son?"_

_Danny stared at Jack blankly for a minute. He was really curious about what they had been working for the past couple of weeks, now twenty years according to his father. After thirty seconds of thinking, Danny nodded and his parents smiled._

Here we go,_ he thought._

_"Well, the purpose of the Fenton Portal is that it will open a rift into another dimension; a 'Ghost zone' so to speak," explained Jack. "This will unleash ghosts into our world: the human or living world, and then we'll be able to test our inventions to see if they actually work!"_

_Maddie handed Jack two of the black electrical cables each joined with a plug at each end. She pressed several buttons, switches, and turned two of the dials on the control box. She gave Jack a 'thumbs up'._

_"All set, Jack!" she said._

_"Get ready for anything that comes out of that portal, Maddie," warned Jack. "Danny, you'd better stand back. We don't want you to get hurt."_

_Danny did what he was told and stood near the right side wall. His heart was racing with excitement. He had never been so excited about his parent's inventions in all his life. He paused. Actually, he was __never excited about his parent's inventions, but there's a first time for everything right?_

_"Here goes nothing…" said Jack._

_He brought the cables together. The portal hummed to life; several lights flickered and a spark of electricity flashed inside. Danny's eyes widened with excitement, the kind of excitement he felt when he was younger during Christmas, ready to open a present from under the tree. He couldn't believe it. It was going to work! That's when he heard it…_

_**ZAP!**_

_The lights suddenly lost its glow, the humming of the machine died and the spark fizzled out like a newly born flame. On the other hand, maybe not, he thought. Jazz was right. It was just another failed invention. Twenty years of his parent's research wasted, just like that tiny spark._

_"What's going on?" asked Jack. "This wasn't supposed to happen!"_

_"Maybe there was a malfunction," suggested Maddie._

_"Or maybe something blew out," added Danny._

_"Impossible!" cried Jack. "We just checked everything before we turned it on!" He unplugged the cables and connected them once again._

_Nothing happened._

_"Third time's the charm," he said. Still nothing, not even a tiny spark or a light turning on._

_"I still don't get it! Why doesn't it work?" complained Jack. "The calculations were correct, all the pieces were put in the right places, and we had everything carefully checked out this morning. Wait; is the computer working, Maddie?"_

_Maddie typed on the keyboard and clicked the mouse. "I just ran a quick system's check and everything's seems normal. Danny might be right, maybe something did blow out."_

_Danny sighed while his parents scanned franticly for anything suspicious on the portal. His father was pushing buttons and pulling switches; his mother began searching through old schematics and equations._

Oh well, another Fenton invention bites the dust,_ Danny thought._

_Jack scratched his head. "Hmm, everything seems normal. It still doesn't make any sense to me! Where could we have gone wrong?"_

_"Well, look on the bright side," said Danny cheerfully. "At least this time nothing blew up and nobody got hurt, right?"_

_Maddie and Jack exchanged glances and smiled. Their son had a point. Most of their inventions had either exploded, fallen apart, or had been destroyed because of a malfunction. This would either leave them with a destroyed lab, burns, cuts and bruises or something even worse that got them in the hospital for at least three days._

_"You're right Danny," said his mother, giving him a hug._

_"It's a shame though. I just wish what was wrong with it so we could get it running again," added his father._

_"I'm really sorry of what happened," said Danny._

_"It's not your fault," said Jack. "Everybody makes mistakes, even us Fentons!" He grinned. "Hey, how about we order some pizza, my treat."_

_Danny nodded. "That would be nice Dad. Thanks."_

_Both his parents smiled and walked up the stairs. Maddie disappeared into the kitchen, but Jack took one more puzzled look at the Fenton portal. "I still don't understand what went wrong." He sighed deeply. "Oh well." And he closed the door behind him._

_Danny didn't go up with his parents. Not yet anyways. He saw the black cables lying on the floor, and then he looked at the portal. __I wonder… he thought. He felt pretty guilty for his parents. As they had said before: twenty years of research, gone. He found that pretty weird for them to work on something that only gave out a little spark of electricity and then die._

_But then he thought. Maybe __he could find the problem and fix it! That would impress his parents!_

_He began to run towards the portal but then stopped. What was he thinking? He wasn't a genius! He couldn't even get a decent grade in school, due that he was a 'C' student. So how could he fix a sophisticated thing like this? Still, his curiosity urged him to try to fix it, in spite of himself._

_Danny knew that he had to wear some protective gear before he got started, due to all the not-too fond memories of explosions, small fires, and nasty looking bright green goo when his parents tested a new invention. He remembered there were spare jumpsuits in a sliding closet on the far left side of the lab. Moving spare parts and junk out of the way, he managed to find it._

_It was long and rectangular in shape with mirrored doors on the front. He managed to open it, revealing several of his mother's turquoise jumpsuits on hangers with black gloves, waist and collar, as well his father's bright orange suits only larger and with more pockets. He knew his father's suits were way too big from him to wear and he wouldn't dare wear one of his mother's if he could help it. What was he going to do?_

_He kept sorting through the closet, hoping he could find something that he could wear, instead of his regular clothing. Just when all hope was lost for him, a flash of white caught the corner of his eye. Quickly, Danny shoved all the jumpsuits to one side, revealing one small white one: complete with black boots, gloves, neck and waist._

_He examined it very carefully, but then he realized it looked as if it was made for him. How come his parents hadn't mentioned this to him before?_

_He shrugged and decided to ask them later after he was done. He quickly grabbed it off the rack and slammed the closet door. He removed the plastic hanger and tossed it behind his back, not caring where it landed, and unzipped the zipper. Although it looked his size, the hazmat suit was difficult to put on. It covered his entire body except his head. It was skin tight, but it was quite easy to move in._

_He looked at his reflection in one of the doors. He felt quite ridiculous in it; it almost made him look like a splitting image of his dad, minus the extra pockets and weight._

_Well, it could have been worse, he thought. __I could have been wearing one of mom's instead of this one. He shuttered at that very thought. __Too creepy._

_He turned back to the broken machine which was the Fenton Portal. He sighed. __Well, here goes nothing…_

_He walked into the strange machine. As he went deeper and deeper, the light dimmed until there was hardly any light to see what he was doing. He put his right hand on the side for safety, so he wouldn't trip on the cables. But, then he came across something uneven and smooth on the wall and leaned against it. There was a loud beeping noise and a loud humming which overcame his senses._

_And before Danny could figure out what was going on; it happened._

_An enormous blinding flash of green light shot out of the cables. The next thing he knew was he felt like his entire body was being put into a blender, pushed on the purée setting. Danny let out one final scream, and then everything went faded into the darkness._

* * *

_Danny's world was coming back into focus. His eyes snapped open wide._

_"What happened?" he asked himself._

_He noticed he was lying flat on his back with his arms and legs spread apart. His head ached terribly, as well as the rest of his body. The lab seemed different somehow, but he didn't know what it was. He finally got up to his feet and looked around. But then he noticed something different about __himself._

_His outfit had changed somehow; the colors had become inverted and now it was entirely black with the exception of the collar, boots, gloves and the waist._

_"That's strange," he muttered. "I could have sworn the colors were different. I'd better take this off before Mom and Dad come back…"_

_He reached for the zipper near his neck, but he couldn't find it or even find the line of it! How was he going to get out of this? Better yet, how was he going to explain this to his parents? He began to sweat a little bit, out of his growing nervousness._

Okay, don't panic, Danny,_ he thought._There's got to be some scissors around here somewhere...

_He walked over to his parents' work desk and shoved blueprints and other clutter out of the way to find a pair of scissors. He threw an unusual silver and green thermos carelessly behind his back, and heard a loud 'thud' followed by a beeping noise. His head swiftly turned to the source of it, and gasped._

_The Fenton Portal had been turned on. The once gaping empty hole was now consumed by a swirling bright green vortex of energy. It was working! It was really working! Danny couldn't believe it. He had fixed it!_

_But this was no time to be celebrating. There was still the suit problem; there wasn't a pair of scissors to be found in the lab. Either it had been taken apart for an invention, or it had __become an invention. He suddenly remembered there was a pair in the kitchen drawer._

_Quickly with haste, he piled his parents' junk back onto the desk and ran up the stairs. Danny suddenly discovered he felt lighter than usual and noticed there wasn't any slapping noise of his feet as he ran. Curiously, he stopped, looked down and let out a short scream._

_He was __floating. His feet were hovering a few inches off the ground; he felt as if he and the floor were two magnets repelling each other._

This is seriously not happening, is it?_ He wondered. _Let me down!

_Strangely, he slowly and gently came back onto the hard wood of the stairs._

_"That was too weird," he muttered. "Maybe, I'm sick, or I'm just dreaming…" He placed his left hand near the wall to relax, as he stared at the ground. Suddenly, his head hit against the wall hard and fell onto the ground._

_"What the heck?"_

_He looked at what had just happened and almost screamed again. His entire arm had gone through the wall! He hastily yanked it out and gasped. It had gone entirely see through! He examined it very closely and a few seconds later, it was visible again._

_"No way!" he cried. "That didn't just happen!"_

_He quickly ran up the stairs to the bathroom to figure out what was going on with him. He noticed Jazz was sitting in the living room, writing out her thesis as she had declared earlier. His parents were no where to be found. __What a relief! Danny peered around the doorway just to try and talk with her. He stared at her for a moment but then shook his head in denial._

What am I doing?_ He thought. _Jazz will think I'm a freak if I explain to her what's happening to me. I'd better keep it a low profile until I figure out what's going on…

_Danny sighed, turned around and darted up the stairs._

* * *

_Jazz suddenly looked up from her paper and peered down the door way. She scratched her head puzzled and shook her head._

_"That's funny. I could have sworn I heard somebody sigh right here a second ago…"_

_She shrugged and went back to her studies._

* * *

_Once Danny had entered the bathroom, he slammed the door shut and locked it. Then he ran the tap over the sink with some cold water and snatched a hanging white hand towel from a hook. He splashed the water over his face and dried it off with the towel. But then he immediately dropped it, in shock of his reflection in the mirror._

_His face was completely changed. His raven black hair had faded into a now silvery snow white; luckily his eyes had retained its natural baby blue. But then he blinked, and they morphed into a frightening, glowing radioactive green._

_He began to sweat and shake with fear as he backed away from the mirror. He looked at his hands and then touched his face, making sure nothing else was going to mutate on his skin. He stared back at his reflection, then to his hands, and then back to the reflection again._

_"What happening to me?" he cried. "It's almost as if I'm becoming a…a…"_

_His sentence trailed away into his thoughts. He felt like one of those comic book characters just starting out with their powers; their origin. But, that didn't explain why he was all like __this. He felt a recent flashback coming on: his parents' failed invention; the cables; the explosion of electricity; the blinding flash of green light; a scream._

_He slapped his head in stupidity. Of course, why hadn't he had figured this out before? The Fenton Portal! Something must have happened when he had turned it on inside of it. A faint flash of the swirling green vortex shaped into his mind, and then his glowing green eyes overlapped it. One word just echoed through his mind over and over again._

_"…ghost," he said, softly. "But, this would mean I'm dead! How am I still alive?"_

_Danny Fenton would eventually find out the truth sooner than he thought._

* * *

"Danny? Danny? Hello, Earth to Danny?"

Danny just stared at the cafeteria ceiling in a daze; a puzzled look was all over his face. Sam leaned in close to his ear and took a deep breath.

"**DANNY, WAKE UP!"** Sam hollered.

The raven haired teen was so frightened by Sam's wake up call; he yelped and fell off his chair. He stuck his index finger into his ear to get some invisible earwax out.

"Sam, what the heck did you do that for?" he yelled. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack and then make me deaf in the process?"

"You were in some sort of trance for a long time," said Tucker, firmly. "Is everything alright, man?"

"Uh, yeah," said Danny. "Just remembering some 'good' times, that's all." He looked around only to find it was clearly empty, with the exception of Sam, Tucker and himself. "Where's everybody?"

"They left, while you were in your little dream world," said Sam, flatly.

Danny was about to counter Sam's comment with one of his, when his ghost sense escaped through his lips and headed out of the cafeteria.

"Oh, great," he said. "What now?"

"I don't know, but where going to find out!" said Sam.

* * *


	7. Distracting the Parents

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom. _All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman._**

* * *

**

The three teenagers rushed through the cafeteria doors, while following Danny's ghost sense trail. It lead them outside of the building, but then Sam felt something cold on the tip of her nose. She looked up to see snow falling from the sky, but what was strange about it was that the sun was still out and there were hardly any clouds.

"This is really strange," said Sam. "It's beginning to snow, but the weather's still the same!"

"That's not all," added Tucker. "Check this out!"

Sam and Danny huddled over the African American. In the palm of his hand was a cluster of tiny snowflakes, but instead of their usual white, they were light blue!

"What do you make out of this Danny?" asked Sam.

"Ten out of ten on the weirdness scale, that's for sure," replied Danny.

"Danny, be serious!"

"I bet it was that ghost you guys saw earlier this morning," said Tucker. "Remember Blue Heart Peak?"

"Yeah, it's the exact same color as the top of it!" exclaimed Sam. "But that must mean…"

"That the ghost of Penny Winters has indeed come back and wants to have a little fright fest," finished Danny. "But, she'd be only coming back because of her boyfriend. This doesn't make any sense at all!"

"If I was her, after five years of searching and my backstabbing boyfriend came back, I'd give him some well deserved payback!" said Sam. "But, what I don't understand is why she was in front of Dash's window?"

"Not to mention _flirting_ with him," added Danny.

"A girl interested in Dash?" asked Tucker. "That's weird enough as it is for me! Who'd want to hang around with that creep?" He reached into his knapsack, took out the Fenton thermos and tossed it to Danny.

"Thanks Tuck," said Danny.

"Don't mention it, dude," said Tucker. "Just do what you got to do."

Danny smiled and nodded. "Okay, I'm going-"

"Danny, there you are!"

All three of the fourteen year olds thought that they almost had a heart attack at the same time.

_Oh no. Not right now! _thought Danny.

Jack and Maddie zoomed right passed them on a skidoo,sending the three teenagers into a pile of snow. They quickly turned around and got off. They were now dressed in much more suitable clothing for the weather. Maddie wore a dark blue and black jacket with white fur around the collar and a pair of red earmuffs, which matched her goggles. Jack wore a black puffy down jacket with beige fur around the waist and hood, and a light brown hat, with flaps covering his ears. He was also carrying the Fenton Ghost Compass, in which Danny saw one of the green arrows flashing towards him.

"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. F," greeted Tucker. "What are you doing here?"

"We've just detected a ghost around here," said Jack. "Have you seen anything peculiar around here?"

"Er, no dad," said Danny nervously. "There's nothing out of the ordinary here!"

"Jack, take a look at this!" said Maddie. Jack turned around to see Maddie holding a handful of the light blue snow.

"Incredible!" cried Jack in amazement. "I have never seen anything like this before. Do you think this might be some kind of frozen ectoplasm?"

Maddie shrugged. "I'm not sure, honey. But whatever this is, it might be a clue towards the mysterious ghost we've been hearing about." She took out a test tube from out of her jacket. "Maybe, we should take a sample of this for testing."

"Good idea," said Danny. "While you two do that, I'm going back inside to find my watch I carelessly left. I'll be right back."

Making sure his parents didn't see the Fenton thermos hidden behind his back; he disappeared back into the cafeteria. It was empty, much to Danny's relief. The only things he heard were the clatter of dishes and the voices of some of the cooks from the kitchen in the back. He ducked under a table and he stared at the thermos.

_Am I really that desperate? _He thought.

He sighed and quickly looked around to see if the coast was clear. He quietly removed the lid and pressed a green button, next to the red one he usually pressed to catch ghosts. The word "Release" appeared on the side screen and a blast of light blue energy shot out of the thermos. The dining room brightened from a short moment, and then it became normal. The Box Ghost hovered over him.

"I'm free!" he shouted. "I knew that a cylindrical container could not hold me! For I am the-"

"Shut up!" hissed Danny. "Do you want to get caught? I let you out on purpose for a reason!"

The box obsessed ghost crossed his arms. "What's the catch?" he asked. Danny was amazed, since it was the first time that the ghost didn't mention its name or any box puns in a sentence.

"No catch, really," he said slyly. "Let's just say I need you for a _special_ task."

"And what if I refuse this 'special' task?"

Danny shook the thermos with a smirk. "Do you want to be stuck in _this_ for the next two whole days?"

The Box Ghost's face froze with sheer terror. "All right!" he pleaded. "I'll do it! Just don't put me back in that cylinder of doom!"

"I'm glad you see it my way," said Danny. "Now, here's the plan…"

* * *

"Where's Danny gotten off to?" asked Jack, as he checked his watch. "He's been in there for almost ten minutes!"

Tucker and Sam exchanged glances nervously.

"Well, I'm sure Danny will be out any second now," said Sam.

Right on cue, Danny came out of the cafeteria, still hiding the Fenton thermos behind his back.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" asked Maddie.

Danny nodded once. "Yep, it turns out that I had my watch on all this time!" He laughed nervously."Weird, huh?"

He suddenly noticed both his parents each wearing a bright yellow card around their necks. "What are those?"

"Oh, these?" asked Jack. "These are the clearance passes for the mountain. Mitch just assigned to us a couple of minutes ago."

"Oh, that's great," said Danny, showing no sign of interest. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the box of chocolates he had saved earlier. "Catch!" He tossed to box to Jack.

"Thanks son," said Jack. "But why are you giving these to us?"

Danny grinned. "Oh, just a thought, I guess. We'd better get going."

"I think we should too," said Maddie. "Are you sure that you three haven't seen a ghost?"

"Positive," said Danny. "But I'm sure you'll see one quite sooner than you think…"

Maddie and Jack climbed back onto the skidoo and quickly drove away in down the snowy main path. Danny finally noticed it had stopped snowing.

Tucker just looked at him suspiciously. "What did you mean by 'sooner than you think?'" he asked.

Danny just smiled. "You'll see in three, two, one…"

Suddenly, the Box Ghost flew right past them with the two ghost obsessed parents in hot pursuit, equipped with a fully loaded Jack-o-Ninetails and Fenton Bazooka. Danny's two friends just stared at him wide eyed.

"Don't tell me you just did what I thought you did!" said Tucker.

"Yep, and I had a little help from the cylinder of doom," replied Danny, holding the Fenton thermos up for reference. All three of them laughed.

"Nice one, Danny!" said Sam. "At least he'll distract your parents, while we try to stop that other ghost."

"There's just one problem: the trail's gone cold!" said Tucker. He pointed to the ground. The light blue snow had disappeared! Danny's ghost sense went off again.

"And now it's hot again. I'm Going Ghost!"

Two glowing light blue rings appeared out of thin air around his waist and began to move in opposite directions. His regular clothes vanished and replacing them was a black and white jumpsuit. His hair changed from ebony black to a snowy white and his icy blue eyes became a glowing bright green.

He strapped the Fenton thermos onto his back and offered his hands out to Sam and Tucker.

"Grab on!" he said.

Sam and Tucker did as they were told to and took hold of each of him hands firmly. The ghost boy leaped into the air and all three of them took flight into the forest.

* * *


	8. Ghostly Pranks

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom. _All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman._**

* * *

**

A few minutes passed by and there was still no sign of the ghost Danny had sensed. _Where could she be hiding?_ Danny wondered. The ghost seemed to know what she was doing, unlike some of his other enemies he had fought before. He recalled a saying he sometimes heard in movies:"_I like to keep my friends close and my enemies even closer."_

Maybe, she was waiting for him or perhaps something to happen unexpectedly. Then she would make her move, like a lioness quietly staking her prey. It seemed too predictable for Danny to make out, but he had to get rid of her before she could do any more damage. He remembered what Jenny had said on the bus earlier this morning:

"_Recently, five people from our team went to inspect the mountain for any wildlife. Four out of the five went missing, but the last one survived, just barely."_

_Who was the one who survived? And what had happened to the other four members? _Danny asked himself. _Were they hiding? Or maybe they became lost? Or were they held as prisoners somewhere? Or maybe they were-_

"Danny?"

"Huh?" The ghost boy blinked and realized he had stopped in mid air. He looked over to Sam and Tucker, who were just staring at him concerned.

"Is everything alright?" she asked. "You stopped flying just a couple of minutes ago and you've just been standing-"

"Floating," corrected Danny.

"Sorry. You've been _floating_ here very quietly. Is there something that's on your mind?"

Danny paused and shook his head. "No, no. Everything's fine, Sam," he lied. "I've just been too busy thinking about Jazz, since she's sick and alone at home."

"Don't worry about it, man," said Tucker. "She's sixteen, and she can take care of herself."

"You're right, Tuck," said Danny. "And besides, without my parents, I bet she's having the time of her life!"

* * *

Jazz Fenton sat on the couch in the living room, wearing a bright red housecoat and fuzzy turquoise slippers. The television was playing a female talk show. The coffee table was covered in empty coffee mugs, a tower of tissue boxes and a soup bowl or two. She was talking on the phone, as most teenagers did, with one of her only friends, Rebecca, who was at the ski resort.

_Ah, sweet privacy!_ Jazz thought in relief. No sign of her parents for miles which meant no ghost lectures or invention testing! She felt like she was really at home for the first time in her life.

This, to her, was paradise.

"So Becky, how's everything going up there?" she asked.

"_Eh, not too bad I guess. It would have been better if you were here."_

"Well, at least I convinced my parents to do something _other_ than ghost hunting so they would get out of the house and I'm just fine with it because it leaves me alone for the next two days with any talk of ghosts. It will give them the chance to give them a little more time with each other and get some fresh air, too."

"_How in the world did you convince them to go?"_

Jazz smiled, even though Rebecca couldn't see it. "I just lied and told them that the mountain was haunted! As soon as they heard it, my dad phoned the school and packed their bags! How unbelievable was that?" Jazz laughed.

Rebecca didn't reply this time. Jazz could only hear crackling on the tone. _Hmm, must be the signal,_ she thought.

"Becky? Hello? Are you there?" asked Jazz, testing out the connection. "Did you hear me okay? Hello?"

"_J-Jazz…" _stuttered Rebecca.

"Becky? Are you alright?"

"_You were right! The mountain is haunted!"_

Jazz couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Have you lost it?" she cried. "It was just a little white lie!"

"_No, Jazz. It's true! There's a ghost around here!"_

Jazz was so shocked that she almost dropped the phone. "There's no way, this must be some kind of joke!"

"_It's no joke, Jazz. My sister, Amy, told me she saw that Dash Baxter kid freak out on the bus; you know the one you tutor?"_

"I used to, but I quitAll he was doing was just staring at me and trying to ask me out on a date! Can you believe the nerve of that guy? But I'm sorry, I'm getting off subject. Did you say he _freaked out?_"

"_Yeah, he was so scared he almost fainted! He was awfully pale, so pale in fact that you could almost see right through him. Well, that's how my sister described it, anyways. She also said your brother and that Goth girl he hangs out with all the time-_

"Her name is Sam Manson," interrupted Jazz.

"_Whatever. Anyways, they seemed to have caught a glimpse of the ghost out of their window!"_

The sixteen year old's eyes widened. "Are you serious, Becky?"

"_If I wasn't serious, I wouldn't have hesitated on the line, like some kind of paranoid kid."_

"Sorry." Jazz took out a tissue and blew her nose; it almost sounded like a foghorn. "Continue."

"_Your parents have now volunteered to exterminate the ghost. My sis told me they attacked one of the guides on the bus and thought she was one."_

Jazz groaned. "Just great, my parents even goof off even when their on a short vacation." She coughed heavily and sniffed.

"_Are you alright?"_

"I'm fine; it's just this stupid cold. I hate being sick!"

"_I know, but your cough sounds awfully nasty. Do you want me to bring something back from the trip? I bet they sell herbal tea up at the souvenir shop."_

Jazz smiled weakly. "That would be great."

She suddenly heard someone scream Rebecca's name out in the background.

"_Sorry Jazz, I have to get going. Mandy's been begging me to go skating this afternoon. I hope you feel better soon."_

"Thanks. Have a good time!"

"_Later."_

There was a 'click' and Jazz hung up the phone, silently. A ghost was at the resort? She lied and she was actually _right _about it? What has she gotten Danny into?

Ever since that incident with Penelope Spectra, a human who was actually a malicious ghost in disguise, Jazz had been worried about Danny getting seriously hurt or in more trouble than he could handle. She secretly knew about he was a ghost after catching a glimpse of him transforming in an alleyway, and always tried to cover for him in any way she could from her parents. She was really proud of him of how he used his powers for good and protecting the townspeople, even though he was named 'Public Ghost Enemy Number One' and was given a ridiculous name by the town.

Now there was a ghost at the resort? She just felt so helpless just lying around the house doing nothing, while her little brother was probably getting his butt kicked by that ghost. But on the other hand, Danny could handle it in his own way, like he always did.

"Danny, please be careful,"whispered Jazz.

A loud crash of glass was heard from the lab. Jazz jerked her head towards the entrance of it and rushed down the steps. She gasped. In front of the Fenton Portal, was an enormous green bull with black hooves, and two long, sharp black horns at the top of its head. Its beady glowing red eyes stared angrily at Jazz while it scraped one its hind legs on the floor. It snorted heavily; steam erupting from its nostrils and made it silver nose ring flip. Jazz suddenly realized why it was angry at her: it was her housecoat!

With a loud roar, the ghost charged at her with blind rage. Jazz quickly jumped out of the way, before it had a chance to turn her into a human shish kebob. As a result, the ghost bull crashed into the wall with its horns lodged into it deeply. It struggled to pull itself out with noisy grunts and roars. Noticing a spare Jack-o-Ninetails hanging on a spare shelf, Jazz grabbed it and pointed it at the trapped animal.

Jazz let out a frustrated sigh. "Can I ever have a day where I can have some piece and quiet?"

* * *

Danny had found a small clearing, after countless minutes of finding a place to land. His ghost sense had led them to this spot, but he couldn't find the ghost everywhere.

_This is getting ridiculous!_ He thought. _She's leading us on a wild goose chase all over the resort! Why can't she just stay in one spot and cooperate, so I can relax?_

"Why did you stop here?" asked Sam, after letting go of Danny. "I don't see the ghost anywhere."

"I sensed her," replied Danny. "She's close by; really close. I need you guys to stay here-"

Danny jumped as he was interrupted by several familiar voices in the distance, behind them.

"Are you sure you're feeling okay Dash?" asked one, who Danny recognized as Kwan. "You've been through a lot today. Maybe you should lie down a bit more."

"Shut it, Kwan. I'm fine!" snapped another. The trio instantly knew it was Dash. "Besides, I'm much more interested is to teach those three losers a lesson they'll never forget!"

Danny, Sam and Tucker gulped at the thought of that threat. It was Dash and gang alright, but they didn't seem too happy. In fright, Danny turned invisible and flew away. Sam and Tucker were shocked to see what their best friend had just done.

"Danny! Come back!" cried Sam, but Danny was nowhere to be found.

"How could Danny ditch us like that?" shouted Tucker. "After all we've been through!"

"Well, well, well. Look what we've found guys: two losers who've lost their way!"

Sam and Tucker jerked their heads, only to see Dash and his gang heading towards them with huge grins on their faces and menacing laughter. Dash glared at them; his eyes showing a hint of revenge and anger.

"I've got a score to settle with you," said Dash. He paused and looked around for a second. "Hey, where's Fenton? He always tags along with you."

Tucker swallowed hard. "He's…uh-"

"He didn't come with us," Sam interrupted quickly. Her arms were crossed and had her usual serious, 'I-don't-care look' on her face. "He went back to his room to unpack."

Dash just scowled at Sam. "You're lying."

"N-no we aren't," stammered Tucker. "We-we're telling the truth. Danny isn't here!"

"Nice try," said Kwan, "but you're not fooling us with that old trick!"

"Yeah," added a tall, dark skinned boy named Jet. He had short, curly black hair, chocolate brown eyes and wore the same attire as Dash and Kwan. "What do you think we are? Stupid?"

"Yes," answered Sam under her breath.

The blond haired jock eyes narrowed. "I heard that, Goth geek! You'll be the first to go!"

He took one huge step towards Sam, while the gang followed by surrounding Danny's friends. Kwan and Jet took hold of Tucker and Sam, while Dash curled his left hand into a tight fist. Sam struggled to escape, but couldn't. But before Dash could even swing one punch at her, something cold and wet slammed on the back of his head. He stopped dead in his tracks and felt back of it. Snow; someone had thrown a snowball at him.

Furious, Dash darted around to his crew, who just stood there with goggling eyes.

"Okay, who threw that?" he demanded. The jocks just stared at him blankly. Dash growled.

"I'm asking you a question! WHO-THREW-THAT?"

"It wasn't Dash, honest!" said Kwan. "It just came out of nowhere!"

Dash let out a frustrated sigh. "Kwan, it couldn't have come out of nowhere. There's has to be some explanation-"

_**WHACK!**_

Dash was cut off by another snowball, this time hitting a clear bull's-eye in the center of his face. Coughing and spluttering, he wiped the snow off his face with an angry growl.

"Where do these things keep coming from?" he shouted.

"Incoming! Everyone duck!" Kwan screamed. An array as much as ten or twenty snowballs whizzed through the air and began to hit their targets. Some of the guys began to run at a safe distance, but the attacks kept following them. Curiously, none of them were hitting Sam or Tucker. They just stood there silently while the jocks ran around in circles.

"Let's get out of here!" hollered Jet as another snowball landed on the back of his head. "We're getting clobbered! Whoever's doing this seems to know what he's doing."

"No," said Dash, diving onto the ground as a snowball almost caught his hat. "Stay put. This is Fenton's doing, I just know it!"

As Dash had said 'Fenton', the firing suddenly ceased. He smirked.

"Fenton, I know you're here. Come out here and fight, like a man! Unless, you're too chicken…"

Silence.

"I have your two friends here hostage. Your girlfriend's one of them."

"How many times do I have to say it: I-am-not-his-girlfriend!" retorted Sam.

Dash ignored Sam's complaint. "So I suggest you come out now," he continued, "before she gets a personal fashion accessory from my fist. I promise no one gets hurt if you surrender to me right now and cut the heroics."

Dash's circle of friends suddenly gasped. Kwan tried to speak up.

"Uh, Dash?"

Dash didn't answer. "Fenton, you know you're holding up the suspense. Why not just come on out and you can save your friends. Of course, if you don't want to..."

Jet swallowed hard. "Dash?" he asked his voice a little sharper and louder than Kwan's.

Dash turned to Jet. "What?" he snapped. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"B-but there's something…" Jet pointed straight at Dash with widening eyes. The blonde haired jock cocked his head with a confused expression.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" he demanded. Jet replied by nervously shaking his head. Dash turned around only to see a snowball hovering in front of his face.

"What the-?"

_**WHACK!**_

The snowball slammed into his face, blinding his vision. His jeans suddenly undid themselves and fell down at his ankles, revealing a pair of bright red boxers with mini footballs.

"It's the ghost of Blue Heart Peak!" screamed Kwan. "Run for your lives!"

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Dash's gang took no time processing Kwan's command, for already many of them had disappeared back into the forest screaming like young schoolgirls.

"Hey, you guys wait for me!" cried Dash. He ran after them while pulling up his jeans, but kept tripping several times until he was out of sight.

Sam and Tucker just stood there on the spot completely speechless. There was a brief pause, until their roaring laughter broke it. They had to hold on to each other just to stay up.

"Did you see that?" howled Sam. "D-Dash-"

"Totally got pranked!" finished Tucker. He had to remove his glasses to wipe his teary eyes. He didn't notice his trademarked red beret was hovering three inches off his head. Sam felt a slight tap on her right shoulder before she looked up at her friend's floating hat.

"Danny!" she said in between her laughter.

Tucker looked up to finally see his hat. "Hey, give it back! That's my only hat!" he shouted. He jumped to try to grab it but his hat moved sideways before he could reach it. It spun high in the air by itself and landed like a flying saucer from a science fiction movie, just an inch off the ground and then flew back to Tucker. Danny became visible while spinning Tucker's hat on his index finger.

"Sorry Tucker, I couldn't resist!" he said with a short laugh. He tossed it back to his friend.

"Well, don't do it again!" said Tucker. "It wasn't funny at all."

"Yeah, for a minute, we thought you were that other ghost," added Sam.

"I had to do something," said Danny, giving off a short shrug. "Dash and his goons were going to hurt you and…well…you know the rest."

"You should get going, Danny, before that ghost starts causing any more trouble around here," said Sam.

Danny gave a slight nod. "Right." He began to rise into the air. "See if you can find anymore info on Penny Winters. Contact me on the Fenton Phones, if you find anything suspicious."

Sam and Tucker gave a "thumbs up" and Danny flew away.

"Just be careful," whispered Sam.

* * *


	9. The Maiden of Winter

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom. _All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman. __Also, I do not own the song: _Once Upon A December_ either. The Fox Network and the singer does._

* * *

"Now which way was I supposed to go again? Was it left? No, I was sure it was right…"

Dash had been running after his gang through the forest for what it seemed like hours to him. Somehow, an unsuspecting gust of wind and snow had temporarily blinded him and he had lost his way. He tried turning back, but he became more hopelessly lost than before. Using his trusty Swiss army knife he carried for emergencies, he carved a small "X" on one of the trees as a marking point.

Even still, he had tried to find the gang's footprints in the snow with no success. He always kept heading back to the marked tree for some strange reason. It was like something was holding him back to this very spot.

"This is crazy! I just keep going around in circles back to this stupid tree!" he said to himself. "This is hopeless. I'm going to be stranded here for the rest of my life!'

A cold, harsh wind suddenly blew against the towering evergreens and pines. A huge pile of snow tumbled down and covered Dash from head to toe in a blanket of fresh powder.

"And I'm getting sick of this snow!"

While he dug himself out, a shrill familiar giggle was heard from above him. He froze (no pun intended) in place. Someone was here.

"Who's there?" he demanded.

No answer. Instead, a chime of a small bell filled his ears with sound.

"H-hello?" he asked a bit quietly, but nervously.

The bell chimed again, only this time it was a soft melody followed by the voice of a young girl. Her voice was as sharp and beautiful as any international pop sensations' could ever be.

_Dancing bears,_

_Painted wings_

_Things I almost remember…_

_And a song someone sings_

_Once upon a December_

The wind blew gently through the trees, making them whistle along to the catchy tune of the bell. The singing continued, echoing in all directions of the forest.

_Someone holds me_

_Safe and warm_

_Horses prance through a silver storm_

_Figures dancing gracefully_

_Across my memory_

The wind began to blow harder. Dash held on tight to his hat, thinking that it could fly into the air and never come back. Snow flew in all directions, quickly changing into a cyclone. It formed above a nearly dead pine tree, its branches almost stripped of their needles. The next verse of the song was repeated again.

_Someone holds me_

_Safe and warm_

_Horses prance through a silver storm_

_Figures dancing gracefully_

_Across my memory_

As the cyclone spun, snowflakes began to form into something; something…_human_. The head was long and pointy. Skinny arms and legs were attached to a slinky and curvy body. Dash suspected it was a woman, but he could have been wrong. The voice still sang, but it wasn't bodiless anymore. It was coming from the snow person…

_Far away, long ago_

_Deep and dim as an ember_

_And a song I used to know_

_Here, it's yours to remember…_

The snow cyclone faded away, while another gentle gust of wind blew softly. Like something in a fairy tale, the snowflake cocoon peeled away like silver dust and revealed a young girl. She was a teenager, possibly no older than Dash was, with long spiky dark blue hair and sky blue skin. Everything she wore was either blue or purple from her headband to her snow pants, with the exception of her silver boots and a tiny silver bell tied around her neck.

_And a song someone sings…_

_Once upon a December_

With her eyes still closed, she walked off the ridiculously high branch and gently back flipped down to where Dash stood, without even breaking a sweat. Dash was dumbstruck; mot even moving a muscle. He just blinked multiple times. Who was she? The girl pushed back a strand of blue hair from her eyes and finally opened them. They were like two gleaming, miniature sapphires; they were the most beautiful eyes Dash had ever seen in his entire life. Her mouth opened and she finally spoke, her voice was as clear as crystal, but it made Dash's hair stand on end.

"Hello Rick," she said softly, "I can see that you're feeling much better now."

_Rick? Who's Rick? _Dash asked himself, confused. _Wait a sec…_

The girl smiled calmly. "Did you get my message? I knew you'd love it. It only took me less than ten seconds to do. A personal record, don't you think?"

Dash said nothing, and only stared at the girl, his mouth agape. The girl giggled innocently.

"Don't you recognize me, sweetheart? Oh, of course not! Silly me! It's been over five years, Rick…" She lowered her eyes seductively and spoke a bit lower. "…Too long for me, don't you think?"

Dash swallowed hard and built up his courage to speak. "You're-you're that girl; that girl who disappeared five years ago. Penny Winters?"

The female ghost's smile vanished from her face instantly and bowed her head sadly. "Yes," she replied quietly.

Her head suddenly snapped fiercely back into eye contact with Dash, her sapphire pupils now completely whitened over. A brutal and powerful blizzard materialized out of nowhere and slammed Dash into the tree he had marked earlier. Branches, pine needles and bark were stripped off the trees in a flash, and were tossed into the growing tempest of the girl's pure rage.

"Don't you _ever_ call me by that name again!" she shrieked viciously, like a rapid dog. "That girl is gone! She was weak! Powerless! Pathetic! My name is Glacia Powder: Snow Queen and Ice Maiden of Amity Park!"

Glacia gritted her teeth and panted as the wind died down around her. Dash could see now that her powers had to be tapped into her emotions somehow. He was too scared to stand or even move, thinking that the ghost might go nuts on him again. Glacia's misted eyes faded back to normal, only now to be filled with concern.

"Oh Rick, I'm so sorry!" she cried out in alarm. She ran towards Dash, her purple gloved hands clasped over her mouth with shock. Dash flinched at he met eye contact with her once more.

"No, Rick. I won't hurt you again." She kneeled in front of him and touched his face with the back of her left hand. It was cool and soothing against his cheek, almost like an ice pack.

"You must be mistaken me for someone else you know," he said, curtly. "My name isn't Rick. It's Dash."

Glacia laughed softly. Dash could see two perfect rows of pearly white teeth. "You don't have to fool me with that name anymore. I know it's you." She examined Dash quickly. "I see you haven't changed a bit in the last five years, either. The same tough guy attitude, the same hair, the same eyes, the same clothes and…" She leaned close to his ear, her eyes lowered seductively.

"The same taste."

The jock blinked in confusion. "What the heck are you talking-?"

But Dash couldn't finish his sentence. He felt something cold spreading like wildfire across his cheek. He looked at the corner of his eye to see that the ghost was kissing him. The cold feeling suddenly became an unbearable pain that stung him to the very bone. He couldn't feel anything else or think straight because of Glacia's kiss.

He noticed now that her lips were emitting a strange blue frost, the same kind he had seen on the window back at the medical lodge. It was slowly creeping over his face like some sort of parasite he had seen in a horror movie once. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but somehow he couldn't. It was as if it was frozen shut. Panic instantly took over him over. All he could do was muffle screams.

The female ghost's eyes shifted towards his, gleaming with evil. Dash tried to push her away, but his arms were now frozen stiff. So were his legs. The idea of escape was now futile.

_Sleep, my love, sleep, _cooed Glacia through his thoughts. He was surprised that she could communicate with him telepathically, but it was hard for him to think properly. _Just relax and close your eyes…_

Her voice had a powerful effect on Dash's consciousness, making him slowly drift away from reality and into a deep slumber. He couldn't stop himself from shutting his eyes. He knew he was beaten, but he didn't want to go like this. He hadn't even graduated from high school!

Just before they were completely shut, a bright green light made his eyes water. There was suddenly less weight pushing against him. He finally saw Glacia lying on the ground; five feet away were he was, struggling to get up.

"Dash, as much as I hate to say this but, are you okay?"

Dash looked up to see a thin boy about his age with short white hair, glowing green eyes, and a black and white jumpsuit standing in front of him. It was the ghost kid!

"Inviso-Bill?" Dash asked curiously. He paused for a second to notice something suddenly different about himself. "Hey, I can talk again! And I can move too!" He didn't feel as cold anymore either, but he still felt numb of where Glacia had kissed him.

Danny groaned. How he wished he could have been named something a little more creative.

The female ghost growled. "How _dare_ you!"

Danny's hands shone with green ectoplasmic energy. "Sorry to break up your little love fest," he said bravely, "but he's not exactly labeled: boyfriend material."

Glacia's eyes clouded white. "You're going to be labeled as: **DEAD**!"

A powerful gust of wind came out of nowhere and knocked Danny hard into several trees. He managed to shake it off and fired an ectoplasmic energy blast straight at her. Glacia managed to see it coming and jumped out of the way at the very last second.

"You _dare_ challenge me?" she snarled. "Glacia Powder: Snow Queen of Amity Park?"

_Jeez, she could be cousins with Technus, if she wanted to_, thought Danny.

Glacia frowned and bared her teeth. "So be it!"

She put her two index fingers in her mouth and whistled hard. The high pitched sound echoed for miles, sending roosting birds flying in panic into the sky. In mere seconds, a fast moving dark blue blur knocked Danny down from behind and floated near Glacia's feet.

As Danny got up to his knees and rubbed the back of his head, he realized the blur was a dark blue snowboard with a silver skull print at the very bottom. The strangest thing about it, besides it was floating on its own and reacted to some sort of voice command, was it had no foot holders attached to it unlike the regular snowboards Danny had seen.

Quickly, Glacia jumped onto it and was raised high into the air. "Catch me if you can, dork!" she shouted.

In mere seconds, she disappeared from view. By instinct, Danny kicked off the ground as hard as he could and cranked up his speed to the highest he could get it: a hundred and twelve miles per hour, to catch up to the ghost's incredible speed.

The chase had begun.

* * *


	10. Frozen Fury

**Disclaimer:** _I do not own_ Danny Phantom, _but own rights to the ideas and original characters for this fanfiction. All rights belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman._

* * *

Danny's teeth chattered as he flew after Glacia. The chill of the wind made his face numb. He knew when he was a ghost he was cold, but he had gotten used to it. While he was near Glacia, he felt colder than usual, but he didn't know why. _Could it be one of her powers?_ Danny wondered.

Even at his top speed, he still wasn't able to touch her. She was faster than he had thought, but he was just a few feet away from a clear shot. Maybe if he could distract her long enough to get close…

"Hey, Queenie!" he shouted, hoping his witty banter would get across to the ghost. "One of your loyal subjects demands for you to slow down so he can kick your butt!"

Glacia came to a brief halt on her board. "Ha! Fat chance!" She fired a dark blue energy beam from her fingertips directly at Danny. At the last second, he turned intangible and the beam disintegrated through the air.

_Here's my chance…_he thought, slinking away from the ghost silently as possible.

Glacia couldn't see where Danny went after she shot her attack. "Where did you go, you little-_AHH!_"

A flash of bright green energy suddenly knocked Glacia off her snowboard and sent her plummeting down below headfirst screaming, knowing she couldn't fly properly without her board. As if it had a mind of its own, the snowboard noticed its rider was missing and dived through the air after her. When it was close enough, Glacia grabbed it by its edge and tried to balance herself as the board shot back up to her original position just before she hit the ground.

After quickly getting her bearings, the ghost hovered in mid-air, searching frantically for the half ghost. She suddenly heard a familiar noise from behind her. Another ectoplasmic blast! Despite the surprise attack, Glacia wasn't frightened in the least.

Smirking, she turned towards the heat of the blast. Since her reflexes had grown over the years of training in the mountains, the speed of the blast seemed like it was moving slower than usual. With a quick snap of her fingers, a billowing cloud of bright blue smoke shot out of her fingertips and consumed the oncoming attack. A short, crackling noise was heard within the hazy cloud, sort of muffling out the sound of the attack and replacing it with the odd sound of cracking glass.

As the smoke finally began to clear away, Glacia grinned. The green blast was now a floating ectoplasmic popsicle. With a flick of her finger, the greenish ice cracked into tiny pieces and plummeted down into the forest below.

"Did you think I'd fall for the same trick again, dipstick?" she shouted through the vacant air.

Responding to this, Danny appeared visible behind Glacia. "Dipstick?" he repeated, a little surprised. "How long have you been hanging around Ember for?"

Glacia blinked as she turned around. "Who the heck is Ember?"

_Hmm…I guess she's never been to the Ghost Zone…_ "Never mind," Danny answered with a slight shake of his head.

"Whatever. The fact is that you're meddling with my plans for Rick!"

"When are you going to get it through your thick head that Dash is _not_ your boyfriend? Did you accidentally freeze your brain up too many times or something?"

Glacia gritted her teeth. "Shut it, Inviso-Bill!" She fired another blue blast out of her fist in blind anger at Danny, but he merely dodged it by flying around it in a graceful spiral.

"For the last time, my name is _Danny Phantom_!" Danny snapped, now slightly irritated that one of his foes was addressing him by his nickname. "Inviso-Bill's just some half brained name some lame reporter came up with."

"Who cares what your name is," Glacia retorted, her narrowed blue eyes now fading to a glassy grayish white. "When I'm done with you, you're going to need that name for your grave!"

Thrusting her palms out, shimmering blue blurs shot out of her hands at lightning speed, too fast for even Danny to dodge them all. He screamed as the blue objects slashed across his suit like razor blades, exposing bright green ghost blood from his wounds around his arms and torso.

Doubling over with pain, Danny flew wearily in the air. Something cold was stabbing through one of the wounds on his left arm. He managed to find it and wrenched it out quickly while gritting his teeth hard to ease the pain. His eyes widened upon seeing the unknown object. He was holding was an icicle with a sharply filed point.

"Ice?" he muttered, dumbstruck. "She's fighting me with _ice_?"

"If you liked that, you're going to love this! I'm sure it'll _blow you away_!"

Raising her hands into the air and twisting her body like it was a top, a powerful wind began to pick up, ripping trees out of the ground and sucking up rocks like a vacuum cleaner. The wind and debris mixed with shards of ice and snow to change Glacia's form into a giant deadly blizzard-like cyclone. Danny was truly overwhelmed by the ghost's raw power. He hadn't seen such power since he met his arch-enemy, Vlad Plasmius.

Frightened, Danny tried to flee from the large attack but the pull of the winds was on Glacia's side now and he was weaker from the loss of blood to get away. Screaming, Danny was sucked into the vortex and was helpless to break free of it. He shut his eyes to prevent any objects to accidentally blind him. He felt his ectoplasmic-based body being shoved and spun around hard back and forth between the pressured walls of air, tree branches clawing at his skin and rocks hitting his frame like speeding bullets. Danny grunted, groaned and screamed with every beating he took. He was helpless at the hands of the self-proclaimed 'Snow Queen'.

At that last moment of now flickering consciousness, Danny could hear the cruel laugh of Glacia's voice mocking his weak state of body and mind.

"You're weak," she cackled. "Heroes are always weak…"

And then, everything fell silent and dark.

* * *

A cool sensation made Danny slowly come to his senses once he had opened his eyes for what seemed like an eternity later. Everything in his body ached, from his muscles to his bones, yet something unknown was cooling them down.

_Wait a sec…_

Danny's eyes snapped open, realizing he couldn't move a muscle except his head and neck. It reminded him of when he was trapped by Plasmius' Spectral Energy Neutralizer back in Wisconsin. Tried as he might, Danny was too weak to conjure up any of his powers and break free of this icy prison.

"Well, well. Finally awake, I see."

Danny looked up above to see Glacia floating just above him on her possessed snowboard with an evil grin on her blue lips. Descending just in arms reach, the ghost said, "I must say that you're a formidable opponent, Danny. I don't get too many like you around here. But I like to know just what _are_ you?"

"What are you talking about?" Danny demanded.

"When you fell unconscious, there were these blue rings that just popped out of nowhere and turned you into a weak little human. How can you be a human _and_ a ghost?" She leaned in dangerously close towards Danny, almost nose to nose. "Just how is that possible?"

Ignoring the fact that he was completely vulnerable in his human form and Glacia's horrible ghost breath, Danny was completely stunned. "You mean…you've never heard of me?"

Glacia raised an eyebrow as she pulled back. "Should I?"

"I'm the halfa."

"The…what?" Glacia couldn't understand what this human was saying.

"A _halfa_," Danny emphasized, remembering what Poindexter had called him months ago. "You know: half human, half ghost. Very powerful being who walks in both worlds? Ring any bells?" Seeing Glacia's blank reaction on her face, Danny realized she couldn't be famous with the residents of the Ghost Zone. "You really don't get out much do you?"

"I don't get out at _all_," said Glacia dryly. "I've been stuck here at this ski resort for the last five years. I've been trying to get out of here since I realized I was dead but there's some kind of barrier around here that prevents me from doing so."

"And for a good reason too," Danny added.

Glacia's eyes flashed white in anger and in doing so; a gust of wind blew behind her. "Hold your tongue, ghost boy, before I freeze it and snap it off!"

Taking the angry ghost's warning, Danny fell silent. Glacia did the same as color was restored to her eyes and the wind died down. As it did, the ghost boy's ears picked up a small ringing small coming from in front of him. When he had located where it was coming from, Danny drew his attention to a small silver bell dangling around the ghost's neck. Glacia's eyes hardened with disgust when she heard the familiar sound and tightly clenched her fist around the bell to silence it.

"Rick was the one who trapped me here in the first place," she said coldly. "If it wasn't for him, I would still be alive." She shut her eyes tight, trying to block resurfacing memories.

"Why?"

Glacia glared at him. "What?"

"Why are you doing this to your boyfriend when it was a simple mistake? You were the one who caused an avalanche and killed yourself, not him!"

"Enough!" shrieked Glacia. "Rick Aries was a lying, two-timing boyfriend who only thought about himself and always will be! Do you know how boring it gets living on a ski hill twenty-four seven? Did you ever think for a second that if I wasn't like this, I would be with my family right now, setting plans with my friends to go out to the mall or going to college? I never even got to go to Prom! _Prom_, for Pete's sake! The one special night of my life I will never live because I'm freaking _dead_!"

"I understand your pain," said Danny, "but revenge isn't going to solve anything."

Glacia shook her head. "Tisk, tisk. You are of little faith, ghost boy. Once you're out of the picture, I can rid myself of the only person who stands between me and my freedom. Consider yourself… a test subject."

Glacia raised out her hands straight at Danny's head, now glowing dark blue. "It's like they always say: nice guys finish last!"

"Oh, yeah?"

A bright pink blast suddenly knocked Glacia sideways into a large pine tree, with the vibrations shaking a heap of snow over her. Immediately, Glacia intangibly leaped out of the pile. Her eyes were whitened over in fury.

"Who would be foolish enough to challenge me?" she screeched.

"I would, ecto-scum!"

Another large bright pink blast aimed from above her, hit her square in the chest, sending her flying into the depths of the forest. Danny, who had recognized the familiar voice of his protector, tilted his head up to the sky to find a feminine figure dressed in a red and black jumpsuit, complete with a helmet that masked her identity from her foes and a gleaming silver hover sled.

"Valerie!" Danny cried.

Tucking her ecto-gun away on her belt, the female ghost hunter quickly descended to where Danny was situated.

"Are you alright?" she asked, stepping off her board.

"Well, since I haven't been blasted to bits and I'm freezing my butt off while I'm incased in ice, I'd say I'm pretty peachy," Danny answered dryly.

"Hang on. I'm gonna get you out of there. I don't know how long my blast will stun her for."

Digging into her backpack, Valerie withdrew a small red and silver object that resembled one of her ecto-grenades. Pressing a small button at the top, the device sprouted six tiny mechanical legs which clamped onto Danny's icy prison.

"You'd better stay still…"

Pressing the same button, Valerie backed away as the device rattled violently, emitting a high pitch sound that almost made Danny cringe in agony. Through the noise, Danny could hear a loud cracking noise as he felt himself loosening up. Finally, the ice splintered into tiny hail-like pieces and the device fell silent.

_Wow, that's new…_Danny mused, shaking his near deafness out of his eardrums. '_Must be some sort of high frequency generator thing…_

"Sorry about that," apologized Valerie, stuffing the device away in her backpack. "I didn't want to use my guns if possible. Now, get outta here!"

Danny rolled his eyes as he ran into the forest, away from where Glacia had landed. _Typical as usual, Val…_ As he got enough far away from Valerie's sight, Danny summoned his ghost half. However, he was still badly injured from his last fight with Glacia as pain shot through his exposed arms and torso. Oddly enough, they didn't seem to have fazed him a lot as a human. _The sooner I finish Glacia, the sooner I can heal…_

* * *

Meanwhile, Glacia had charged back into battle on her snowboard, firing blue blasts out of her fingertips at rapid speeds. Valerie, who had dealt with this sort of attack formation by Danny Phantom, quickly evaded them on her hover-sled and fired a barrage of quick blasts from her ecto-bazooka at the ghost. However, the ghost matched her speed equally as she was firing her own attacks back at the red huntress. One managed to hit and freeze up one of Valerie's rockets, suddenly sending the ghost hunter plummeting to her doom. Fortunately, she managed to stop just before the hard crushing impact of metal and bone against frozen soil and rock.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Valerie growled, anger flaring at the very sight of Danny Phantom rescuing her.

"On holiday," Danny replied coolly, blasting away the ice from Valerie's sled. He managed to duck away from an ectoplasmic snowball just in time, freezing an unaware crow that was perched behind him on a nearby tree. "But apparently, she's not."

"Hiding behind a puny human to do your dirty work, Phantom?" hissed Glacia, both hands now generating another two snowballs. "You're weaker than I thought…"

"Scatter!" Danny shouted to Valerie just as Glacia hurled her snowballs at them. Grudgingly, Valerie obeyed, and climbed high into the air on her sled to evade them from freezing her solid.

"I'm not with him, blue butt," snapped Valerie, raising her ecto-bazooka to eye level. "But in this case, I'll make an exception…" Taking aim, Valerie fired a high charged attack from her ecto-bazooka directly at Glacia. Luckily though, the large pink beam just missed her by a mere inch.

Glacia grinned. "Ha! You missed!"

"Wasn't aiming for you…"

"What?"

Glacia darted around to where Valerie's attack had passed her, only for her overconfident grin to vanish as saw Danny conjure up a greenish bubble of energy around his body. Valerie's blast hit Danny's barrier and, just as it broke it, the attack literally bounced off at a speed that even Glacia couldn't react in time to dodge. The weapon's attack hit Glacia in the solar plexus, and sent her spiraling down to Earth with a loud crash.

"So, is she a girlfriend of yours?" Valerie asked, resting her ecto-bazooka on her right shoulder after seeing no signs of sudden movement from Glacia's overly stunned body.

Danny could believe the words that were coming out of the ghost hunter's mouth. "Are you kidding? She's still has issues with her last boyfriend!"

Unhooking his Fenton thermos from his belt, Danny quickly unscrewed the top. Before Valerie could ask where he got his thermos, Danny fired the bluish beam from the container, engulfing Glacia in its inescapable suction. Through her bruised brain, Glacia's eyes lit up in a result of panic.

"What is this?!" she cried, clawing at the ground to evade the inevitable from the ghost boy's containment unit. "No, stop!"

"Your royal duties have been cut short, Frosty," said Danny. "It's back to Ghost Zone for you!"

"No! Let me go! Let me go! _Let me go!_"

Glacia's grip finally loosened from the icy ground and with one last shriek, the ghost vanished inside the contents of the thermos. Danny let out a sigh of relief as he slammed the top back on. _Danny: one, psycho snowboarding ghost: zero…_ At last, it was over. Unfortunately, the celebration ended once Danny heard the familiar sound of Valerie's ecto-bazooka charging up for an attack.

_Aw, crud. I forgot…_

"So, are you going to shoot?" Danny asked, without looking at his attacker.

Valerie paused for a moment, as if in deep thought behind the dark visor of her helmet. Surprisingly, she deactivated the charging sequence and put her ecto-bazooka back into her bottomless backpack.

"I'm in a generous mood today, ghost boy," she said stiffly. "I'm on vacation, too." Stepping on a tile on the surface, the hover-sled's rockets charged up. "Just remember that the next time I see you, I won't be such a goody-goody…" With a loud roar from the rockets, Valerie zipped away into the midday air until she faded from Danny's view.

"Yeah, thanks for all the help, too," Danny muttered with a frown, flying away in the opposite direction, hoping that Tucker and Sam were doing alright without him.

* * *

_Finally, another update! I had this chapter sitting on my computer for months now and hadn't had any spark to finish it until recently when I finished my semester in college. Also, I have been editing the story as I had mentioned in my Author's Note (which I'll be deleting soon enough). The Prologue now has both Chapters One and Two together in one nicely edited package. Go ahead and read it over if you want to see the changes. Chapter Eleven is under works as I type right now, so expect another update in a couple of weeks after I come back from Anime North. _

_Happy reading and please review!  
_


End file.
